U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, made the following statement regarding a new study released by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The study, which analyzed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) plans to lower the current ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) to 60 parts per billion (ppb), found that it would reduce the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $270 billion each year and cost the average U.S. household $1,570 per year.
"Today's study confirms what we have been fearing - that lowering the ozone standard to what EPA is considering would throw our country's economy into a black hole as the single most expensive regulation in history," said Vitter. "The current standard has not yet been fully implemented, and so we haven't even seen those benefits yet. And if lowering the standard would put our pristine national parks, like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, in non-compliance, there is certainly something very wrong with this picture."
According to the NAM study, lowering the ozone standard to 60ppb would threaten the largest industries in Louisiana and put almost the entire state into non-attainment.
Vitter has been urging CASAC and EPA in a series of letters to conduct the ozone NAAQS review process in a transparent manner, including the need to address error corrections and risk data errors in the scientific assessments used. Earlier this week, Vitter and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, urging EPA to assist the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) in conducting a full evaluation as required under the Clean Air Act of the adverse effects which may result from a proposed lower standard before moving forward in the rulemaking process.
-30-
