EPA set to seek stronger smog limits

[Geee]

The Hill:

The Obama administration on Wednesday will propose a sweeping new rule aimed at reducing the ozone pollution that causes smog, according to a report.

 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule would seek to cut emissions from manufacturers, power plants, fuel refineries and other fossil fuel-burning operations, the latest in a salvo of pollution-fighting rules from Obama.

 

The Wednesday proposal will seek to cut the allowable concentration of ground-level ozone to between 65 and 70 parts per billion, from the current 75 parts per billion, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the rule.

As with other air pollutants, states must submit plans to the EPA to bring areas’ pollution under the threshold the agency sets.

Since ozone is a byproduct of fossil fuel pollutants, energy-intensive industries, such as manufacturers and oil refiners, expect to be hit hard by any reduction.

[Geee]

Inhofe: New Congress will examine ozone rule

 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for ozone, expected to be released Wednesday, are already being met with opposition from conservative lawmakers.

 

In a statement released Tuesday night, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said the new National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone will face “rigorous oversight” in the Congress.

 

“EPA's proposal to lower the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) to between 65 parts per billion and 70 ppb will lower our nation's economic competitiveness and stifle job creation for decades," he said.

"The EPA's previously proposed Ozone standard came with a price tag of up to $90 billion per year, by EPA's own estimation. In 2011, President Obama pulled back on the 2010 proposal due to high costs and the potential of a detrimental impact to American businesses. Now the EPA is proposing an equally aggressive standard while failing to even be advised about the potential cost of lowering the standard.”

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/225364-inhofe-new-congress-will-examine-ozone-rule

[Geee]

Storm Brewing Over New EPA Ozone Standard

 

With Republican majorities both Houses, the incoming Congress is likely to be unreceptive to the Obama administration’s regulatory agenda and could pose resistance to the Environmental Protection Agency’s highly controversial proposal to lower the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone.

The EPA’s new ozone standard, widely reported to be between 60-70 parts per billion (ppb), was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review in mid-October, a move strongly suggesting EPA’s formal proposal is imminent.

Ground-level ozone, often referred to as smog, is not emitted directly, but is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of sunlight. Emissions from industrial facilities and electric utilities, exhaust from motor vehicles, gasoline vapors, and chemical solvents are among the sources of NOx and VOCs.

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2014/11/25/storm-brewing-over-new-epa-ozone-standard

[Valin]

EPA Lost in the Ozone, As Usual
Steven Hayward
November 28, 2014

Just one day after the Supreme Court granted cert to review the EPA’s ridiculous mercury regulations, the EPA announced that it would lower the ozone standard to .06 parts per million, from the current .075 parts per million. This is the same regulation that President Obama cancelled in 2011 because, as the New York Times described it, “Mr. Obama said the regulation would impose too severe a burden on industry and local governments at a time of economic distress.”

This is another one of those issues that brings out the worst environmental hyperbole. Such as this in the New York Times story yesterday:

William Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, said, “Ozone is not only killing people, but causing tens of millions of people to get sick every day.”

Tens of millions every day! It’s a wonder there are any Americans left alive anywhere in the country, since ozone is overtaking tens of millions every day. Somehow I missed the rising epidemic of ozone-related illness, which somehow fails to stand out in the steadily improving health of the American people.

 

(Snip)

 

 

 

Thank Goodness For The EPA!

 

http://youtu.be/ZDAEXn8RJFs

[Valin]

SURPRISE!!!

 

Just how badly did the EPA underestimate the cost of their new regulations?

Jazz Shaw

November 29, 2014

 

When Barack Obama’s EPA announced their new carbon restrictions for power plants, they were quick to try to undercut arguments from coal state politicians who predicted staggering costs which would be passed on to consumers. While their own, initial estimates were not accepted by anyone of repute, they had outlets like NPR going out and saying that compliance with the crushing regulations would actually wind up producing a net cost benefit of as much as $67B. And if that were the case, they would have a strong argument indeed. But are those figures rooted in any sort of reality?

 

A recent, exhaustive study of the long terms costs associated with these carbon emissions regulations argues quite the opposite. In fact, they found that, rather than saving money, these new EPA regulations will add $284 billion in costs over the next five years. So how does that matter to the wallet of the typical consumer?

 

(Snip)

 

Whether you’re talking about the homeowner, the small business employer or large industrial interests, the story being pitched by the EPA at the start of this mess was completely inaccurate. You can say that they lied or that they were just incompetent in their analysis, but the result is the same. These regulations are going to deliver a crippling economic blow in exchange for modest (at best) reductions in emissions, even as competitors in other nations continue to flood the zone while facing no such restrictions. The overall “benefit” to the global environment will be too small to measure, but the hike in your heating bill will be a very easy calculation.

(Snip)