By December 30, 2015 Read More →

API, business coalition files lawsuit against EPA’s new ozone standards

API says new restrictions on business, investment could impact job growth in 958 counties across the US

API

American Petroleum Institute

API and a coalition of concerned business groups filed a lawsuit last week against EPA’s unnecessary and costly tightening of ozone NAAQS standards, according to API Vice President and General Counsel Stacy Linden.

“Our nation’s air has been getting cleaner without costly new regulations, but the administration ignored science by changing the ozone standards before states could fully implement existing standards,” Linden said.

“We’re asking the court to step in and block this unnecessary regulation that could be one of the costliest to consumers in history.”

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

“Tightening the standards will not improve air quality any faster, but these regulations could hurt jobs and the economy by imposing unachievable emission reduction requirements on virtually every part of the nation,” Linden said.

API

Stacy Linden VP, General Counsel and Corp Secretary

“Even pristine areas with no industrial activity such as national parks will be out of attainment. Operating under such stringent requirements could stifle new investment and impair our nation’s economic future.”

Daniel Cohan, a Rice University climate scientist, illustrated in an American Energy News column why the new EPA rules will do little for Texas’ major metro areas of Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. He argues that reducing emissions from traditional pollution sources, such as industry and automobiles, will not be nearly enough to meet EPA standards.

EPA’s analysis estimates reductions of 123,000 tons of NOx per year would be needed in eastern Texas to bring Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth into attainment by 2025. Houston’s attainment would require an additional 20,000 tons of hydrocarbon reductions.

“But these tonnages of emission reductions are unfathomably large for eastern Texas to achieve in ten years. Where could these cuts of 123,000 tons of NOx and 20,000 tons of VOC possibly come from?” Cohan asks.

The API says that new restrictions on business and investment could impact job growth in 958 counties across the U.S. – nearly one-third of all counties or county equivalents – under EPA’s new standard of 70 parts per billion, according to an API analysis of EPA data. That’s up from just 217 counties at the previous ozone standards.

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