Washington, DC, September 22, 2006--The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) today criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new air quality regulations for imposing significant burdens and great costs on U.S. manufacturers.
Arguing that the “scientific evidence does not show any significant association with health effects at ambient concentrations,” NAM instead urged the EPA to streamline existing air quality programs where possible.
Under the new regulations, particulate matter standards, known as National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), will be tightened even though the current standard has not yet been fully implemented.
“Changing the standard now, even while the current standard has yet to be implemented, would move the goalposts during the middle of the game, creating investment and business uncertainty,” said NAM president John Engler. “Manufacturers already spend considerably more on pollution abatement than their global competitors, and imposing excessive and needless new regulations would do nothing to fulfill EPA’s duty to protect environmental quality.”
The Bush Administration has already issued a number of rules that will make significant strides toward reducing emissions of PM including the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to reduce emissions from power plants in the eastern United States, and the Clean Diesel Program to reduce emissions from highway, non-road and stationary diesel engines. NAM believes that an untimely revision of the PM 2.5 standard could undermine these already existing rules.
Although the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to periodically review air quality standards to ensure they provide adequate health and environmental protection, it does not mandate that such a review result in revision of an existing standard.
“This further revision of an air quality regulation is further proof that Congress should step in to streamline contradictory and overlapping programs,” Engler continued. “Doing so would ensure continued improvement in the nation’s air quality while sustaining economic growth.”
