National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn issued the following statement today warning of the economic impact of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) pending new standard for ozone (smog):
“The new ozone standard continues EPA’s spotless record for irresponsible policies that ignore costs and exaggerate benefits. The new standard will cost billions of dollars, tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs and threaten counties across the country with no-growth status under the Clean Air Act.
“EPA attributes few health benefits directly to smog reduction. This isn’t surprising since current ozone levels are down 33 percent since 1980 and current standards already protect human health. Just as it did with its mercury rule recently voided by the Supreme Court, EPA again relies on previous regulations to claim ‘co-benefits’. To most people, that means ‘no benefits’.
“Enormous costs, few if any benefits and a seeming indifference to their economic consequences – these are also the hallmarks of EPA’s pending regulations to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Once again the fate of a sustainable manufacturing revival and break-out economic growth is jeopardized by this regulatory agency. Congressional oversight and action will be essential to avoid still more years of poor economic performance and further harm from EPA’s onerous regulations.”