Dear House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Upton and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Inhofe:
On behalf of the 60 organizations listed below and the millions of Americans represented, we urge you to take action on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for Ozone and to reform the rulemaking process for ozone and other pollutants regulated under NAAQS. Without changes to the ozone regulation and reform of the rulemaking process, economic activity could be brought to a standstill in many areas across the country.
The ozone regulation has questionable benefits, but certain economic costs. Last year, when the EPA lowered the compliant level of ozone from 75 to 70 parts per billion (ppb), it estimated the regulation would cost $1.4 billion annually and admitted the cost of the regulation greatly outweighed the benefits of further ozone reductions. Previous cost estimates by the EPA ranged between $3.4 and $25 billion annually. The only way EPA could justify the regulation was to use questionable co-benefits. In reducing ozone, there may also be benefits from reductions of other pollutants, in this case particulate matter (PM). However, the EPA already has another set of regulations dealing exclusively with PM. Either the EPA has woefully inadequate standards for PM or it is effectively “double counting” the health benefits of PM reductions to justify the ozone regulation.
The EPA had to use questionable co-benefits to justify the regulation because of the tremendous reductions in ozone already achieved. Since 1980, ozone concentrations have fallen by 33%. In many areas across the county, ozone concentrations are nearing background levels – concentrations resulting from natural and nonlocal manmade sources. Before finalizing the current regulation, EPA was considering an ozone standard so strict Yellowstone National Park would have been noncompliant.
Many states are still working to implement the 2008 standard of 75 ppb. 177 counties, which contain just under one-third of the U.S. population, are designed as nonattainment areas under the 2008 standard. By making the ozone standard stricter, the EPA has made it significantly harder for these counties to be in compliance and ignores their hard work at meeting the prior standard.
The ozone regulation places a tremendous burden on communities across America. The result of a nonattainment designation can be disastrous and bring economic activity to a halt. Local governments risk losing federal highway funds. Oil and gas operations, with the royalty and tax revenue they bring, may cease. Manufacturers may be forced to relocate or shut down, destroying jobs in the process.
Given the harmful economic effects, we ask that you consider measures to change the ozone standard and reform the rulemaking process. Currently, the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016 (H.R. 4775, S. 2882) is one such measure that achieves these objectives. The legislation would push back the attainment deadline for states and require economic feasibility to be considered. Additionally, it would bring much needed reform to the rulemaking process by changing the review period for pollutants under NAAQS from every 5 years to every 10.
Thank you for your consideration and work on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Brent Gardner, Vice President of Government Affairs
Americans for Prosperity
Amy Noone Frederick, President
60 Plus Association
Alex St. James, Chairman Emeritus
African-American Republican Leadership Council (AARLC)
Dick Patten, President
American Business Defense Council
Phil Kerpen, President
American Commitment
George David Banks, Executive Vice President
American Council for Capital Formation
Sean Noble, President
American Encore
Tom Pyle, President
American Energy Alliance
Coley Jackson, President
Americans for Competitive Enterprise
Peter J. Thomas, Chairman
Americans for Constitutional Liberty
Richard Manning, President
Americans for Limited Government
Grover Norquist, President
Americans for Tax Reform
Dan Weber, CEO
Association of Mature American Citizens
Alex St. James, Executive Director
Blacks Economic-Security Today Trust Fund (BEST Trust Fund)
Jeffrey Mazzella, President
Center for Individual Freedom
Peter Nelson, Vice President and Senior Policy Fellow
Center of the American Experiment (Minnesota)
Marita Noon, Executive Director
Citizens' Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE)
Col. Francis X. De Luca USMCR(Ret), President
Civitas Institute
Matt Anderson, Policy Analyst
Coalition for Self-Government in the West
Tom Brinkman Jr., Chairman
Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST)
Craig Rucker, Executive Director, Co-Founder
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)
Myron Ebell, Director, Center for Energy and Environment
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Tom Schatz, President
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Craig Richardson, Executive Director
Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal)
Marita Noon, Executive Director
Energy Makes America Great
Dick Ribbentrop, Senior Vice President, Policy
Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce
Wayne T. Brough, Ph.D., Chief Economist and VP for Research
FreedomWorks
George Landrith, President
Frontiers of Freedom
Mario H. Lopez, President
Hispanic Leadership Fund
Wayne Hoffman, President
Idaho Freedom Foundation
Amy Oliver Cooke, Executive Vice President and Director, Energy Policy Center
Independence Institute
Carrie Lukas, Managing Director
Independent Women's Forum
Heather Higgens, President and CEO
Independent Women’s Voice
Andrew Langer, President
Institute for Liberty
Sal J. Nuzzo, Vice President of Policy
James Madison Institute (Florida)
Kory Swanson, President/CEO
John Locke Foundation (North Carolina)
Dave Trabert, President
Kansas Policy Institute
Seton Motley, President
Less Government
Colin A. Hanna, President
Let Freedom Ring
Connor Boyack, President
Libertas Institute
Dee Hodges, President
Maryland Taxpayers Association
Forest Thigpen, President
Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Brent Mead, CEO
Montana Policy Institute
Harry C. Alford, President/CEO
National Black Chamber of Commerce
Amy Ridenour, Chairman
National Center for Public Policy Research
Willes K. Lee, President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Pete Sepp, President
National Taxpayers Union
Kevin P. Kane, President
Pelican Institute for Public Policy (Louisiana)
Mike Stenhouse, CEO
Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Paul J. Gessing, President
Rio Grande Foundation (New Mexico)
William Whipple III, President
Secure America's Future Economy
David Williams, President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Judson Phillips, Founder
Tea Party Nation
John Colyandro, Executive Director
Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute
Brooke Rollins, President
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Joseph Bast, President and CEO
The Heartland Institute
Daniel Garza, Executive Director
The LIBRE Initiative
Matthew Gagnon, CEO
The Maine Heritage Policy Center
Michael W. Thompson, Chairman and President
Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy (Virginia)
Carl Bearden, Executive Director
United for Missouri