Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Chairman, the purpose of this amendment is to deal with the new rule entitled, ``National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone,'' which affects several Wisconsin counties that I represent along Lake Michigan.

Since the original CLEAR Act came into effect, the Environmental Protection Agency has had the authority to regulate air emissions from stationary and mobile sources. They have--and this is a good thing-- over time, progressively come up with new rules, making the standards more and more stringent for the counties along Lake Michigan.

If you are ruled a nonattainment, it is a burden. It is a burden on industry that has to spend substantial amounts of additional money dealing with stricter and stricter standards, putting them at a competitive disadvantage compared to other parts of the country and other parts of the world. It is also a difficult thing for individual motorists who find their cars have to be repaired. It is very expensive.

Some of it is easy for people who have a high salary to deal with. Maybe they don't have an older car. But I have always felt that some of this disproportionately affects the people who are just struggling to get a goal in life.

Therefore, when the EPA comes up with new standards, it is not without effect. They need to come up with new standards they proposed a couple of years ago.

The purpose of the amendment is to prevent them from spending money promulgating these new standards so that our industries may have a predictable situation and not be at a competitive disadvantage.

I should point out that, insofar as the counties along Lake Michigan are ruled a nonattainment, it may be through no fault of their own. In part, for historical reasons, they have monitored the ozone by placing the monitors real near Lake Michigan, where there are artificially high amounts of ozone.

Secondly, we have a situation where, insofar as there are pollutants in the area, almost all of them come from south of Wisconsin, out of Chicago or areas further south. As a practical matter, it can be almost impossible, or even impossible, for these Wisconsin counties to deal with these problems.

I have been working with the Environmental Protection Agency on this issue. After introducing the amendment, I have continued to work with the Environmental Protection Agency.

While I would like to deal with this problem statutorily, I realize it would be probably better for all concerned if the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the business community in Wisconsin, and I could reach a conclusion.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I withdraw my amendment.

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