Texas Business Groups Blast ‘Avalanche’ of EPA Proposals

Via WOAI News Radio: 

Texas business groups are warning today about what they call an ‘avalanche’ of proposed new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency which has the potential to cripple the state’s economy, erode the personal savings of residents, and damage thousands of businesses, without having any measurable impact on improving the environment or public health, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

Stephen Minick of the Texas Association of Business says one is a proposal to drastically cut the allowable ozone standard for metropolitan areas.  That rule would automatically leave metro San Antonio out of compliance, which would immediately trigger the requirement to undergo expensive new annual auto emissions testing, jacking up the price of an annual inspection by about $40.

Minick says there is no way that this new rule can be complied with.

“The EPA is proposing a much more stringent regulation which in many ways would approach natural background level, and the EPA cannot identify a set of control measures that could actually lead to compliance with those regulations.”

That’s right…the EPA is proposing a regulation it will be impossible for cities to comply with…making regulatory enforcement universal.

Minick says the regulations will actually decrease public health, especially among low income Texans, because they will take money away from those families that could go toward healthy food, and health care for their children.

“I believe the ozone regulations will have far more negative impacts, in terms of their ability to take care of their and their children’s health care expenses and the like,” he said.

Another proposal that Minick and others are concerned about is one that would crack down on power plant emissions as part of the Obama Administration’s attempt to fight climate change.

Minick says the regulations would jack up the electric bills of homeowners and businesses, once again, with no significant result.

“If you take the proposed greenhouse gas reductions and run them through the International Panel on Climate Change’s own model, we are going to prevent a sea level change of 0.165 inches, which is the thickness of a business card.”

Also in the cross hairs of the business groups are the new rules designed to crack down on methane releases in horizontal fracking.

Dr. Ed Ireland, Executive Director fo the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, says not only will the regulations result in higher home heating and gasoline bills for citizens, again cutting down on a family’s ability to buy healthier food and pay for health care for their children, but the methane rules will have a negative impact on clean air.

“Natural gas has helped the electricity generating sector replace their older coal fired plants, resulting in a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to their lowest level in twenty years,” Ireland said.  “Of course that is because natural gas is far cleaner burning than coal.”

The group says ‘from higher electricity bills for middle class families to fewer job opportunities for new college graduates, this wave of EPA regulation puts a bullseye on the entire Texas economy.  Texans deserve a more balanced regulatory approach, not more federal overreach from Washington.

See the article here.