Obama’s EPA Hard at Work Putting Americans Out of Work

October 6, 2011

Democrats Continue to Defend Job-Destroying Regulations from Obama’s EPA That Are Already Hurting the Economy

Even as House Republicans prepare to prevent Obama’s EPA from implementing irresponsible and job-destroying new regulations, a great deal of damage has already been done. Companies are already eliminating hundreds if not thousands of jobs because of job-destroying EPA rules, making it all the more important to stop the EPA in its tracks before it can do any more harm.
These EPA rules will do more than just destroy jobs—they threaten to disrupt the U.S. power supply and put factories at major risk.
Additional revelations suggest the EPA has been planning to implement their regulatory onslaught by hiring 230,000 new regulators.

BACKGROUND

Even as House Republicans prepare to prevent Obama’s EPA from implementing irresponsible and job-destroying new regulations, a great deal of damage has already been done. Companies are already eliminating hundreds if not thousands of jobs because of job-destroying EPA rules, making it all the more important to stop the EPA in its tracks before it can do any more harm:

EPA RULES FORCE TWO POWER PLANTS TO SHUT DOWN BY END OF THE YEAR, DESTROYING 90 JOBS: “Ameren Corp. will shutter its Meredosia and Hutsonville power plants by the end of the year, eliminating 90 jobs.

“The company said complying with U.S. rules requiring the reduction of air pollutants would require installing expensive environmental controls at the 203-megawatt coal-fired unit and 166 MW oil-fired unit at Meredosia Energy Ceneter and the two coal-fired units at Hutsonville Energy Center, which total 151MW.”(Julie Wernau, “Ameren to Stutter 2 Coal Plants in Illinois,” The Chicago Tribune, 10/4/2011)

AFTER EPA RULES DESTROYED 500 JOBS IN TEXAS BY FORCING FACTORIES TO SHUT DOWN: “Texas energy company Luminant announced on Monday new burdensome Environmental Protection Agency regulations are forcing it to close several facilities, which will result in about 500 job losses.

“The company will be idling — stopping the usage of — two energy generating units. It will also cease extracting lignite from three different Texas mines.”(Matthew Boyle, “EPA Regulation Forces Closure of Texas Energy Facilities, Eliminates 500 Jobs,”The Daily Caller, 9/12/2011)

STUDY: NEW AND PENDING EPA RULES WILL DESTROY 1.65 MILLLION JOBS:“Over the period from 2012 to 2020, about 183,000 jobs per year are predicted to be lost on net due to the effects of the four regulations. The cumulative effects mean that over the period from 2012 to 2020, about 1.65 million job-years of employment would be lost.” (“Potential Impacts of EPA Air, Coal Combustion Residuals, and Cooling Water Regulations,” NERA Economic Consulting, September 2011)

PENDING MACT RULES ALONE COULD PUT 300,000 JOBS AT RISK: “A study by the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners (CIBO) finds the EPA’s proposed rules to restrict emission limits on industrial and commercial boilers and process heaters could put 300,000 jobs at risk.” (Laura Narvaiz, “EPA Delays on Boiler MACT and Ozone Rules a Step in the Right Direction,” National Association of Manufacturers, 12/8/2010)

BUT WHITE HOUSE “STRONGLY OPPOSES” GOP EFFORT TO MAKE EPA STOP DESTROYING JOBS: “The White House Wednesday said it strongly opposes a House bill that would delay several Environmental Protection Agency rules on air pollution, setting up another showdown over Republican-led efforts to postpone the agency’s agenda.” (Ryan Tracy, “White House Opposes House Bill to Delay EPA Rules,”The Wall Street Journal, 9/21/2011)

These EPA rules will do more than just destroy jobs—they threaten to disrupt the U.S. power supply and put factories at major risk:

“EVEN SOME IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION” THINK EPA ACTIONS ARE “UNDERMINING THE SECURITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE U.S. ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY”: “The Environmental Protection Agency claims that the critics of its campaign to remake U.S. electricity are partisans, but it turns out that they include other regulators and even some in the Obama Administration. In particular, a trove of documents uncovered by Congressional investigators reveals that these internal critics think the EPA is undermining the security and reliability of the U.S. electric power supply.” (Editorial, “Inside the EPA,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/26/2011)

POWER OUTAGE: FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION (FERC) SAYS EPA GHG RULES “VERY LIKELY” WOULD ELIMINATE 8% OF U.S. POWER SUPPLY: “That 8% figure comes from FERC itself in a confidential 2010 assessment of the EPA’s regulatory bender—or about 81 gigawatts that FERC’s Office of Electric Reliability estimated is ‘very likely’ or ‘likely’ to enter involuntary retirement over the next several years. FERC disclosed the estimate in August in response to Senator Murkowski’s questions, along with a slew of memos and emails.” (Editorial, “Inside the EPA,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/26/2011)

FERC REQUESTED A “SAFETY VALVE” POLICY IN CASE EPA SHUTDOWNS LEAD TO MASS POWER BLACKOUTS: “Under pressure from Democrats and the EPA to disavow his own agency’s analysis, Mr. Wellinghoff now says that FERC favors only a ‘safety valve’ that would give it the authority to overrule the EPA on a case-by-case basis if its regulations might lead to blackouts. But even this is a tacit admission of EPA’s overkill. You don’t need a safety valve if there isn’t a threat to safety.” (Editorial, “Inside the EPA,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/26/2011)

Additional revelations suggest the EPA has been planning to implement their regulatory onslaught by hiring 230,000 new regulators, all while admitting that some of their new rules are “absurd” and “impossible to administer”:

EPA WANTS AN ARMY OF 230,000 NEW REGULATORS, AT COST OF $61 BILLION ANNUALLY: “But the agency is still asking for taxpayers to shoulder the burden of up to 230,000 new bureaucrats — at a cost of $21 billion — to attempt to implement the rules.” (Matthew Boyle, “EPA: Regulations Would Require 230,000 New Employees, $21 Billion,” The Daily Caller, 9/26/2011)

EPA ADMITS NEW GREENHOUSE GAS REGULATIONS ARE “ABSURD” AND “IMPOSSIBLE TO ADMINISTER” BY 2016 DEADLINE: “The Environmental Protection Agency has said new greenhouse gas regulations, as proposed, may be ‘absurd’ in application and ‘impossible to administer’ by its self-imposed 2016 deadline.” (Matthew Boyle, “EPA: Regulations Would Require 230,000 New Employees, $21 Billion,” The Daily Caller, 9/26/2011)

BUSINESSES BURDENED BY EPA RULES WOULD BALLOON FROM 14,000 TO 6.1 MILLION: “The proposed regulations would set greenhouse gas emission thresholds above which businesses must file for an EPA permit and complete extra paperwork in order to continue operating. If the EPA wins its court battle and fully rolls out the greenhouse gas regulations, the number of businesses forced into this regulatory regime would grow tremendously — from approximately 14,000 now to as many as 6.1 million.” (Matthew Boyle, “EPA: Regulations Would Require 230,000 New Employees, $21 Billion,” The Daily Caller, 9/26/2011)