|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Chamber members urge U.S. Senate action on EPA Regulatory Relief Act
Measure advanced by Congress would allow EPA time to revise costly boiler emissions regs
Following the U.S. House of Representatives’ recent passage of the proposed EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2250) by a bipartisan vote of 275-142, PA Chamber members are urging the U.S. Senate to follow suit. The legislation was authored in response to costly and potentially economically damaging rules developed last year by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions from commercial, industrial and institutional boilers (Boiler MACT). After receiving an onslaught of negative feedback from the business community about the detrimental economic impact of the rules if adopted, EPA asked the courts for additional time to implement the rulemaking. That request was denied. EPA then issued the final rules by the court’s deadline and simultaneously stayed the rules to allow for revision. The stay is being challenged in court, leading to the introduction of H.R. 2250. Co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, the EPA Regulatory Relief Act has earned the support of the PA Chamber along with a wide range of manufacturers, small municipal power plants, biomass power plants, hospitals, federal facilities and others in the regulated community. The bill would give the EPA an additional 15 months to revise the harsh regulations and author a new set of standards that would be considered achievable by real-world boilers, process heaters and incinerators, and that would impose the least burdensome regulatory alternatives consistent with President Obama’s executive order. The bill would also extend compliance deadlines from three years to five years, giving impacted industries time to afford the cost of compliance; and would clarify that renewable and carbon-neutral materials are fuel and should not be disposed of as solid waste in a landfill. In 2010, the state House adopted a resolution memorializing the EPA to develop a more sustainable approach to protecting the environment and public health with regard to its Boiler MACT rules. The PA Chamber expressed these same concerns in a letter supporting the resolution (H.R. 879). In the PA Chamber’s 21st Annual Pennsylvania Economic Survey, government over-regulation and mandates were listed as one of the most important issues impacting businesses today, second only to fears about the stagnant economy. In order to foster economic recovery and growth, regulations at the state and federal level need to place reasonable expectations on job creators that balance environmental protection with economic growth and job creation. The EPA Regulatory Relief Act would help accomplish this goal, and is the reason PA Chamber members are urging swift passage of the bipartisan bill in the U.S. Senate. ### Founded in 1916, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is the state's largest broad-based business association, with its membership comprising businesses of all sizes and across all industry sectors. The PA Chamber is The Statewide Voice of Business. |
| Archived |
| Copyright © 2006 Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry |