Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce released the following statement in reaction to the Obama Administration's newly announced federal ozone mandates, which were released today by the EPA.
"The current federal ozone standard has already proven to be effective, despite it not being fully implemented. Yet, instead of allowing these existing regulations to work, the Obama Administration has decided to arbitrarily change the standard further," said Pearce.
"The administration's change is an unnecessary regulation that will kill jobs, stall economic growth, and stifle continued business investment and expansion. While harmful throughout the nation, this rule will be especially devastating for New Mexico. Nearly half of the state's counties will be in non-compliance under this rule. This new mandate creates winners and losers among the states as companies will flock to areas not affected by the rule. Jobs will be shipped out of New Mexico and overseas as manufacturers look to relocate to more business-friendly countries. We all want clean air and healthy citizens, which is why the EPA should scrap this proposal and allow the current standard to work -- without putting Americans out of work," Pearce added.
Background: In March 2008, EPA lowered the primary 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) from 80 parts per billion (ppb) to 75 ppb. The new mandatory standard imposed today lowers the current level to 70 parts per billion.
The danger is that this new mandate requires burdensome offsets for any new business that will generate emissions. This will particularly handicap economic development in rural areas.
For example a 2014 economic analysis found: such a requirement that any economic entity that wishes to obtain a permit to establish a new facility that will emit the pollutant(s) ... must first find an offsetting reduction of those same emissions from another facility that is exiting the area, or has voluntarily reduced its own emissions below its permitted level. A tightened ozone standard has the potential to cause nonattainment areas to expand into relatively rural areas, where there are few or no existing manufacturing facilities to generate a supply of offsets.