Democrats Side With EPA’s Anti-Jobs Agenda

August 4, 2011

As Obama’s EPA Devises Job-Destroying Regulations and Stands in the Way of Economic Growth, Democrats Rush to Defend EPA’s Agenda

Democrats took advantage of the focus on the debt limit last week to push through their job-destroying environmental agenda, announcing new regulations that may destroy up to 220,000 auto industry jobs, outlining a new timeline for a job-destroying ozone rule and continuing to oppose new measures that will increase American made energy and create jobs.
Despite concerns from job creators, the EPA and Democrats continue to move full speed ahead on their job-destroying agenda. The EPA recently doubled-down on mandates for businesses to use technology that “doesn’t exist.” Similarly, the new EPA ozone rules are so unreasonable that even national parks like Yellowstone would be out of compliance.
You’d think that with a weak economy and high unemployment, Obama’s EPA might tread lightly with new job-destroying regulations. On the contrary, the agency has put out 20 new rules—and counting.

BACKGROUND:

Democrats took advantage of the focus on the debt limit last week to push through their job-destroying environmental agenda, announcing new regulations that may destroy up to 220,000 auto industry jobs, outlining a new timeline for a job-destroying ozone rule and continuing to oppose new measures that will increase American made energy and create jobs:

75% OF DEMS SIDE WITH OBAMA’S EPA, OPPOSE PLAN FOR NEW ENERGY DEVELOPMENT AND JOBS. (H.R. 1938, Roll Call #650, Passed 279-147, 7/26/2011)

DESPITE THE FACT THAT THIS PLAN COULD CREATE UP TO 230,000 NEW JOBS.(“Restarting the Engine: Securing American Jobs, Investment, and Energy Security,” IHS Global, 7/29/2011)

OBAMA ANNOUNCES NEW FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS AT A COST OF UP TO 220,000 JOBS: “The recent agreement between the government, automakers and environmentalists to meet a 54.5 mpg fuel economy standard in 2025 is a significant challenge, according to the Michigan-based Defour Group. … In an earlier study, the Defour Group estimated a 56 mpg standard would cost 220,000 jobs in the automotive industry in 2025.” (“54.5 MPG Standard by MY2025 a Daunting Challenge,” Defour Group, LLC, Accessed 7/29/2011)

EPA “DELAYS” ITS JOB-DESTROYING OZONE RULE, SAYS IT IS STILL “FULLY COMMITTED” TO IMPOSING IT. “EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said in a statement Tuesday that agency Administrator Lisa Jackson remains ‘fully committed’ to completing the rule, which is under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget.” (Ben Geman, “Obama Administration Delays Smog Rule Amidst Pushback from Industry, GOP,” The Hill, 7/26/2011)

MANUFACTURERS ALLIANCE: EPA OZONE RULE WILL DESTROY 7.3 MILLION JOBS BY 2020. (Paul Bedard, “New Fears EPA Smog Rule Will Cost 7.3 Million Jobs,” U.S. News and World Report, 7/19/2011)

BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE: EPA’S OZONE RULE WILL BE “THE SINGLE MOST EXPENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION EVER IMPOSED.” (Robin Bravender, “Industry: EPA Hurts Obama in 2012,” Politico, 7/15/2011)

Despite concerns from job creators, the EPA and Democrats continue to move full speed ahead on their job-destroying agenda. The EPA recently doubled-down on mandates for businesses to use technology that “doesn’t exist.” Similarly, the new EPA ozone rules are so unreasonable that even national parks like Yellowstone would be out of compliance:

EPA IS PUNISHING JOB CREATORS “FOR NOT BUYING A PRODUCT NO ONE MAKES” AND “DOESN’T EXIST”: “Today’s pop quiz: What happens if the government mandates the consumption of a product that doesn’t exist? Naturally, the Environmental Protection Agency has decided to punish the gasoline refiners because they can’t buy a type of alternative fuel that no one is making. Consumers will be punished too.

“The 2007 energy bill vastly increased the volume of corn ethanol that must be blended into gasoline, though it also included mandates for cellulosic ethanol. These are the second-generation fuels made from stocks like switchgrass or the wood chips that George W. Bush invoked in his 2006 State of the Union. At the time, no such fuels were being produced on a commercial scale, but cellulosic producers and the green lobby assured Congress they were just about to turn the corner, and both the Bush and Obama Administration furnished handsome subsidies.

“The EPA set the 2011 standard at six million gallons. Reality hasn’t cooperated. Zero gallons have been produced in the last six months and the corner isn’t visible over the next six months either. The EPA has only approved a single plant to sell the stuff, operated by Range Fuels near Soperton, Georgia. The company used to be a press corps favorite and has been lauded by the last two Presidents, but it shut down its cellulosic operations earlier this year to work through technical snafus.” (Editorial, “Cellulosic Ethanol and Unicorns,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/15/2011)

UNDER NEW EPA OZONE RULES, EVEN NATIONAL PARKS LIKE YELLOWSTONE AND THE GRAND CANYON WOULD BE FORCED “OUT OF COMPLIANCE”:“Now, Mr. Eisenberg said, he is hearing the standard will be set around 65 ppb. ‘Anything in that range would be too low,’ he said. It would even force respected national parks like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon out of compliance.” (Tim Devaney, “EPA Ozone Proposal Draws Fire,” The Washington Times, 7/17/2011)

You’d think that with a weak economy and high unemployment, Obama’s EPA might tread lightly with new job-destroying regulations. On the contrary, the agency has put out 20 new rules—and counting:

2^nd QUARTER GDP GROWTH AT 1.3%, 1^st QUARTER GROWTH REVISED DOWNWARD TO MISERABLE 0.4%: “The U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace than expected in the spring as consumers cut back on spending, while revisions showed the slowdown since the beginning of the year was much more drastic than previously thought.

“The Commerce Department Friday said gross domestic product rose at an annualized seasonally adjusted rate of 1.3% in April through June, while first-quarter growth was revised down sharply to a 0.4% rate from the earlier estimate of a 1.9% gain. A big reason behind the downward revision in first-quarter growth was that the inventory buildup by companies was less than initially estimated, while outlays by the federal government and consumers were also revised down.” (Tom Barkley and Jeff Bater, “U.S. GDP Grows Just 1.3%,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/29/2011)

BLOOMBERG CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX DIPS LOWER: ONLY 6% OF AMERICANS THINK ECONOMY IS IN “GOOD SHAPE”: “The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index was minus 46.8 in the period to July 24, the lowest since May, compared with minus 43.3 the prior week. Six percent of those surveyed said the economy was in good shape, the fewest since April 2009.”(“U.S. Consumer Confidence Drops on Concern About Economy,” Bloomberg, 7/28/2011)

BUT EPA ADMITS THEY DON’T CONSIDER JOBS IMPACTS IN RULE-MAKINGS:“The Obama administration has repeatedly said job creation is a top priority, but apparently the memo seems to have missed the bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This became evident when EPA Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus testified Thursday before an Environment and Energy subcommittee hearing that his agency does not take jobs into account when it issues new regulations. ‘We have not directly taken a look at jobs in the proposal,’ Stanislaus said, referring to a regulation that would govern industries that recycle coal ash and other fossil fuel byproducts.” (John Rossomondo, “EPA Official Says Jobs Don’t Matter,” The Daily Caller, 4/16/2011)

ROUGHLY 20 NEW REGULATIONS FROM EPA ALONE IN LAST TWO YEARS:“The plan put forth by EPA is a good example. There have been roughly twenty regulations proposed or finalized over the past two years at EPA that the Chamber has weighed in on in one way or another, ranging from greenhouse gases to boiler emissions standards to numeric nutrient criteria. The costs to industry in these twenty rulemakings are steep, and in virtually each case EPA has not adequately performed statutorily-required analyses of job impacts, economic impacts, small business impacts, and other burdens. Yet EPA’s plan identifies only two of the twenty – the lead paint rule and vehicle greenhouse gas regulations – and in both cases still fails to address the fundamental complaints made by industry.” (Bill Kovacs, “One Small Step …”, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 5/26/2011)

“EPA CHIEF STANDS FIRM” AS JOB-DESTROYING NEW REGULATIONS THAT WILL HIT “EVERY CORNER OF THE ECONOMY” LOOM: (John M. Broder, “EPA Chief Stands Firm as Tough Rules Loom,” The New York Times, 7/6/2011)