API: New ozone standards duplicative and costly

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Jan 28, 2015, 11:58 ET

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- EPA's new proposal to tighten regulations on ozone would be very costly and would fall on top of current standards that are already improving air quality, API Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs Howard Feldman told reporters in a preview of testimony API will deliver in public hearings on the proposal.

"The facts are clear: the current standards protect our environment without stifling jobs or harming our economy," Feldman said. "We urge the administration to allow the current standards to continue working.

"When looking at the science, it is clear that the current standards are protecting public health. The nation's air is getting cleaner, and air quality will continue to improve as we implement the existing standards."

Ground level ozone in the U.S. declined by 18 percent between 2000 and 2013, according to EPA data.

"Further tightening the standards will not improve air quality any faster, but new regulations will add costs to jobs and the economy," Feldman said. "As proposed, the new standards would impose unachievable emission reduction requirements on virtually every part of the nation, including rural and undeveloped areas.

"Even pristine areas with no industrial activity such as national parks would be out of attainment. Needless to say, operating under such stringent requirements could stifle new investment. This is nonsensical public policy and government at its worst.

"If President Obama is serious about lifting up the middle class and closing the income inequality gap, the last thing his administration should do is threaten jobs and our energy and manufacturing renaissance with unnecessary and costly new regulations."

A new ozone regulation from the Obama administration could cost $270 billion per year and place millions of jobs at risk, according to a NERA economic analysis.

API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API's more than 625 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms. They provide most of the nation's energy and are backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 25 million Americans.

SOURCE American Petroleum Institute