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  4. EPA Rules Would Cost Industry Billions According to White House

EPA Rules Would Cost Industry Billions According to White House

Date: September 5, 2011

Source: News Room

As requested by Congress, President Obama has identified four high-profile EPA air and waste rules that are expected to cost more than $1 billion annually, including new ozone standards, air toxics and waste disposal rules for coal-fired power plants and air quality rules for boilers and incinerators. This is likely to galvanize Republican lawmakers seeking to block the measures in Congress. But Obama, in an Aug. 30 letter responding to a request from House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), downplays Republican and industry concerns about the high costs of rules on the regulatory agenda, arguing that pending rules may not be issued anytime soon and still face executive branch review to reduce costs as required by his Executive Order 13563.

However, Obama says that of the seven pending rules likely to cost more than $1 billion, four are EPA measures, including the reconsideration of the Bush-era national ambient air quality standard for ozone ($19 billion - $90 billion annually); the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for coal- and oil-fired electric steam-generating units ($10 billion); the NESHAP for major source industrial and commercial boilers and incinerators ($3 billion); and standards for managing coal combustion residuals generated by commercial electric power facilities ($600 million - $1.5 billion). The three other rules on the list are being developed by the Department of Transportation.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has since issued a legislative agenda that indicates lawmakers will vote on several bills to curtail the EPA rules listed by Obama, as well as three broader regulatory review measures. Among the rules Republicans plan to debate are measures targeting EPA's air toxics rules for power plants and incinerators and boilers and disposal requirements for coal ash.

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