Posts Tagged ‘EPA’

September12

Rap on regulations an often used wolf cry by Big Business that is not about jobs but all about profits

By: Rich Robinson

In the debate over the current economic crisis, there is a continued drumbeat from Big Business that regulations will “kill jobs.” It’s an old trope that gets trotted out every few years. So as the drumbeat to roll back the nation’s vital public safeguards gets louder in the coming weeks and months, remember it is just Big Business crying wolf… again.

Photo by BlackburnPhoto via flickr

The latest example was found in a recent CNN Money page story Does a healthy environment harm jobs?, which repeated the theme that regulations “will result in factory closures and jobs losses just when the nation needs them least.” Fortunately, the article included the other, factually-based side of the story.

Included is a study from the Center for American Progress, which concluded, “The data shows that the fear of drastic economic harm due to a stronger (ozone) standard is unwarranted, despite industries’ fevered predictions.”

The article also quotes supporters saying “industry always cries ‘job losses’ whenever it’s told to clean up its act,” which, it turns out, is completely true.

Here’s EPA Director Lisa Jackson, in Politico: “Today’s forecasts of economic doom are nearly identical — almost word for word — to the doomsday predictions of the last 40 years,” EPA chief Lisa Jackson said in a September speech. “This ‘broken record’ continues despite the fact that history has proven the doomsayers wrong again and again.”

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Posted in: Environment, Regulation, Uncategorized0 comments

August26

Claims of EPA “train wreck” derailed

By: Rich Robinson

Seems these days, there are a zillion Big Business leaders, their puppets in Congress and legions of corporate cheerleaders crying wolf over the regulations that keep you, me and our fellow countrymen safe from unchecked corporate greed. The latest example of this is a study by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the largest trade association representing the electric utility industry, which concluded that the looming Environmental Protection Agency rules for power plants will create an economic “train wreck.”

flickr photo by jk5854

Not surprisingly, this prophecy of doom and gloom has been found to be completely overblown, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

CRS analyzed EEI’s study and found it was severely flawed and lacked credibility. The discredited EEI study is just another example of the disconnect between the alarmist rhetoric coming from special interests and reality.

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Posted in: Energy, Environment, Regulation, Uncategorized2 comments

July11

Thousands of lives, billions of dollars

By: Rich Robinson

Government rules play a major role in all our lives. They are necessary to protect the most vulnerable among us – the young, the old – those who cannot protect themselves. They shield us from companies that are willing to pollute, to cheat, or to skimp on safety in the name of profit. These rules are one of the foundations of a civilized society.

Few government agencies better demonstrate serving the public interest than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and today’s announcement of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule offers a perfect example. The rule will tighten limits on the amount of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution that power plants in more than two dozen eastern states are currently allowed to emit. Sulfur dioxide is a component of acid rain while nitrogen oxide is an element of smog.

The Cross-State Air Pollution rule was issued under the “Good Neighbor” provision of the Clean Air Act, which makes sure emissions from a power plant in one state doesn’t cause unsafe pollution levels in another.

The rule will have a positive impact on the economy and in people’s lives. The EPA report “Final Air Pollution Cross-State Air Pollution Rule: Reducing Air Pollution, Protecting Public Health” shows millions of Americans will live healthier lives. The rule will begin to phase in on January 1, 2012, but by 2014 the rule will save up to 34,000 lives a year, save 420,000 from upper and lower respiratory symptoms per year, annually avoid 1.8 million sick days and will “result in $120 to $280 billion in annual benefits.”

This is not proof of a government “run amok,” but instead a shining example of what government is supposed to do.

Check out this link for more information on the rule.

 

Posted in: Environment, Regulation0 comments

June22

“Evils of Regulation” is the Wrong Answer to a Trick Question

By: Amit Narang

Here’s a trick question: What has caused our economy to lose over 8 million jobs in the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression? If you answered “the unprecedented economic crisis caused by our financial industry’s long campaign to escape government regulation,” well, you’d be wrong.

Wrong at least according to the majority members of numerous House Committees which have convened hearings in recent weeks solely focused on the supposed evils of regulation.  In hearing after hearing, members of the majority have resorted to misrepresentation and misinformation in singling out public enemy number one when it comes to job creation: government regulation.

These hearings demonstrate a central Republican article of faith; any regulation, however sensible and necessary it may be to protect the public, will prevent businesses from hiring. The fallacy of this false choice between regulation and jobs is exposed by a recent study released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The study, entitled “A Lifesaver, Not a Job Killer,” counters the accusation that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed national emissions standards for mercury, arsenic, and other toxic air pollution, known as the “toxics rule,” would present a threat to job growth.

The study makes an important point that critics of regulation conveniently overlook, namely  regulation can spur creation of businesses and industries that do not currently exist.  It  contends that EPA’s rule to protect the public from toxic pollutants would attract investment and jobs to the environmental protection sector, resulting in a modest overall net increase in jobs. That’s quite a silver lining to a rule that would already lengthen lives, provide better health, and increase productivity by improving the quality of the air we breathe.

Not surprisingly, the benefits of regulation are given short shrift in House Committee hearings. Instead, these hearings demonstrate Republicans’ single-minded emphasis on the costs of regulation. Indeed, a House Committee hearing on regulation cannot be complete without at least one reference to a thoroughly discredited study which claims that the annual economic cost of all regulations total 1.75 trillion dollars. Even Cass Sunstein, the main witness of a recent House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing and Obama’s top regulatory official, called the study “deeply flawed ” when asked to comment on it.

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Posted in: Consumer Protection, Environment, Health, Regulation, Uncategorized, Workplace Health & Safety1 comments

May25

Chevron banks on a profitable political agenda

By: Tyson Slocum

With 43 lobbyists and a federal influence-peddling budget of at least $35 million this past election cycle, Chevron must have an ambitious agenda for the politicians in "True Cost of Chevron"Washington, DC. The company just paid $4.3 billion to acquire Atlas Energy and its extensive holdings in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale so first and foremost on the company’s agenda will be fighting any efforts to have the federal government regulate hydraulic fracturing. Second, Chevron produced 260,000 barrels of oil and natural gas per day from the Gulf of Mexico, so preventing Congress from reforming offshore drilling rules in the wake of the BP disaster will be key. Third, Chevron will join forces with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others to demonize pending Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and continue opposing efforts for the U.S. to lead the way in battling climate change. Fourth, look to Chevron to help lead the chant of “Drill Baby Drill!” as the company seeks to exploit the Presidential race to open new areas to oil and natural gas drilling. Fifth, expect the company to take evasive action against efforts to revoke billions of dollars in oil company tax breaks and royalty relief. Finally, Chevron will probably seek to protect investments overseas from meddlesome foreign government actions on prioritizing the environment and workers’ rights by getting the U.S. to enact favorable trade agreements.

Chevron’s lobbyists are a Who’s Who of former government officials. DC’s rule of thumb: corporations ensure better access to lawmakers when they put their former colleagues from government on their payroll.

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Posted in: Campaign Finance, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Ethics0 comments

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