The National Association of Manufacturers and several other trade associations representing a broad range of industries petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency today for an immediate stay of the Boiler MACT rule affecting industrial boilers and the rule establishing stricter emissions limits on Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units (CISWI).
The petition is here.
As the broad range of industries supporting this stay – as well as EPA’s own impact analyses – make clear, these rules have the potential of doing economic harm by imposing enormous additional costs on key industrial sectors. The petition also states that the NAM and other associations intend to seek reconsideration of the rule and will soon provide the EPA with detailed reconsideration requests.
We believe that during the reconsideration process that the EPA must take the time to ensure that the rules achieve necessary environmental goals while minimizing the impact on U.S. competitiveness. Furthermore, even as the EPA takes that necessary time, it should not mandate that companies invest in potentially unnecessary compliance expenditures. During the period leading up to and including reconsideration — which could last a year or more — thousands of existing facilities would otherwise be forced to make major investments in compliance measures that ultimately may prove unnecessary.
The rules also immediately and adversely affect new facilities and force companies to make crucial decisions regarding plant upgrades or shutdowns, all of which may be undone depending on the reconsideration process. The NAM believes the EPA should stay the rules in their entirety until the reconsideration process is complete. This will give manufacturers the certainty they need to make investments in their businesses and create jobs.
Alicia Meads is the NAM’s director for energy and resource policy.
New York Times
The New York Times reports "more than two-thirds of the states expect to raise taxes on businesses this year" in order to replenish unemployment benefits funds. The Times says "stubbornly high unemployment" has "depleted the unemployment trust funds of most states: 32 of them owe the federal government more than $48.3 billion that they borrowed to continue paying jobless benefits."
SmartBrief on Leadership
Too many would-be innovators get stuck chasing after the incremental improvements suggested by market research and focus groups, writes Simon Rucker. It's far more effective to skip over what your customers say they want and focus on giving them what they truly need: bold, transformative ideas that take them to places they could never have dreamed up on their own. "No one ever asked for Starbucks, or Walkmans or iPods, or the Internet, or texting -- they were truly new ideas. And no amount of consumer research gave Steve Jobs the confidence to reimagine the music industry," Rucker notes. Harvard Business Review online/The Conversation blog
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ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES MORE INDUSTRY REGULATION WITH JOINT GUIDANCE ON CLEAN WATER ACT
NAM Capital BriefingOn April 27, White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary of the Army Corps of Engineers Jo-Ellen Darcy hosted a series of conference calls with the press and stakeholders to discuss the Administration’s Clean Water Act guidance. The joint guidance expands the definition of the “waters of the United States”—and by extension the EPA’s and the Corps’ jurisdiction over these bodies of water. Ultimately, this guidance serves as nothing but the continuation of the Administration’s burdensome environmental agenda that has been overwhelming manufacturers as they try to recover from the recession. The NAM is concerned this guidance will place even more unnecessary burdens on manufacturers and intends to file comments opposing this effort.
NAM POLICY EXPERT DISCUSSES MANUFACTURING STRATEGY WITH TECHNOLOGY THINK TANK
NAM Capital BriefingNAM Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Relations Aric Newhouse spoke at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) on Tuesday, April 26, about enhancing America’s manufacturing competitiveness. Newhouse highlighted the NAM’s “Manufacturing Strategy for Jobs and a Competitive America” and emphasized the need to lower the corporate tax rate, eliminate unnecessary health care costs and remove burdensome regulations on manufacturing companies to help the United States compete with countries around the world. Joining the NAM in presenting at the event was the CEO of a small manufacturing company headquartered in Maryland and an official from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
NAM JOINS IN EXPERT TESTIMONY SUIT
NAM Capital BriefingQuestionable science in the courtroom makes defending product liability suits more difficult for manufacturers. A case now on appeal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania involves testimony claiming that any exposure to asbestos on the job, no matter how small, is a “substantial factor” in causing mesothelioma. The NAM and other groups filed an amicus brief urging the court to reject testimony based on this “any exposure” theory, which contrasts sharply with normal causation testimony. The trial court called the theory “junk science,” as have many other courts, but an intermediate appellate court reversed because the judge did not constrain his ruling strictly to the arguments made by the defendants.
Jim Hotlkamp, Esq. Holland and Hart
ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE; ENERGY; OIL & GAS - EPA Issues Guidance
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ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE; ENERGY - EPA and Utah DEQ Differ on CO2 Controls for New Power PlantIn comments on the proposed Approval Order (major source air permit) by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality ("DEQ") for PacifiCorp's proposed Lake Side gas-fired power plant, EPA criticizes DEQ for not setting numeric emission limitations for CO2 emissions from the plant. DEQ had made a finding that requirements for efficient turbines satisfy EPA guidance on Best Available Control Technology for major sources of greenhouse gases. click here to read more
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ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE; ENERGY - California to Study CCS for Gas-Fired Power PlantsThe California Energy Commission ("CEC") has approved a $1 million grant to Stone & Webster, Inc. to "evaluate the technical design considerations and ability to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from natural gas combined cycle power plants" and to estimate the costs and impacts from deploying carbon capture and sequestration ("CCS") at gas plants, according to the CEC staff paper. The funding for the study comes from a U.S. Department of Energy grant. click here to read more
ENDANGERED SPECIES - Notice of Intent to Sue Fish & Wildlife Service to List Pacific Walrus as Endangered Species On April 21, 2011, the Center for Biological Diversity notified the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service of its intent to sue the agency to force the listing of the Pacific walrus as an endangered species due to shrinking Arctic sea ice. click here to read more
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