Cramer: Ozone Standards Bill Ensures New Investments And Job Growth, Protects Public Health
Press Release
Congressman Kevin Cramer said today's passage of H.R. 4775, the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016, allows states to meet new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ozone and other air quality standards with a practical implementation schedule.
The bill received bipartisan support and passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 234-177. It phases in the implementation of 2008 and 2015 ozone standards, extending to 2023 the date for final designation of the 2015 standards. It aligns permitting requirements under the phased implementation schedule. It establishes a more realistic 10-year review period for future ozone and other air quality standards reviews, and allows for the EPA to consider whether a new air quality standard is technically feasible before further revising it.
Cramer said the EPA did not publish implementing regulations for standards established in 2008 until March 2015. "The EPA then revised those standards six months later, leaving manufacturers with the burden of implementing two ozone standards," he said. "Although ozone levels are down by one-third since 1980 and continue to trend downward, implementing these two standards at the same time discourages new investments and manufacturing competitiveness."
Cramer is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and its Energy and Power subcommittee heard testimony from state and local regulators at an April hearing on the bill. The regulators testified how the EPA's new rule will cost the economy billions of dollars each year, while describing new investments in state-of-the art technologies as not being able to make up for background ozone, both naturally-occurring and internationally transported.
"Many EPA policies, such as the Ozone Rule, get ahead of technology or are flat-out impractical," said Cramer. "This legislation ensures continued air quality improvements across the country, while better aligning the EPA's regulatory requirements with the realities of the economy, technology and other sources of pollution."
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