NPRA: Proposed Changes to Ozone Standard Will Harm Job Growth, Consumers

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Environmental Protection Agency's proposed changes to federal standards regulating ozone could inflict serious harm on America's economy, job growth and consumers, said Gregory Scott, executive vice president and general counsel of NPRA, the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, in a statement today to an EPA advisory panel.

"The proposed NAAQS for ozone will have a great, and potentially very negative, impact on the nation's economy and whether the current economy rebound can be sustained," Scott said. "It will have a great, and again potentially very negative, impact on the prospects for job creation and retention over the next decade. And its impact on American citizens – the motorists, truckers, farmers and families that drive our great nation – will be felt for years to come."

Scott's statement to the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee's Ozone Review Panel was given during a teleconference held as the panel considers proposed revisions to the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone.

"Air quality is improving and risks are declining without a change to the Ozone NAAQS," Scott said. "Cleaner fuels and cleaner facilities are contributing to this trend and will continue to do so in the future as current programs are fully implemented."

"The current ozone NAAQS standard and many existing continuing air quality improvement programs are working and will continue to protect public health in the future."

EPA typically reviews federal air quality regulations every five years, as required by the Clean Air Act. Although the current standard for ozone was established in 2008, EPA is expected to issue changes to the standard this July.

"I urge you to undertake your work cautiously and with full knowledge that the advice you provide to the EPA administrator will impact the lives, livelihoods, jobs and futures of hundreds of millions of Americans across the nation," Scott told the panel.

SOURCE National Petrochemical & Refiners Association

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