During a recent hearing on EPA regulations, Energy and Commerce Committee member Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) had an alarming exchange on jobs with Mathy Stanislaus, EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. The EPA expert confirmed that the agency, contrary to the president’s executive order, does not directly examine regulations’ impacts on jobs.
Watch the startling exchange HERE
Rep. Gardner is now seeking answers from Obama EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. In a letter sent to Jackson this week, Gardner writes, “EPA Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus explicitly stated that a direct impact on jobs is not taken into account during economic analyses on proposed rules. I seek further clarification on the process and procedure by which EPA performs its economic analyses, and how the impact of various regulations on jobs will be taken into consideration in the future."
Gardner also presses Obama’s EPA for clarification on how the agency quantifies both the direct and indirect effects of new rules on U.S. job creation and employment. He asks for a list of final rules for which the EPA has not performed an economic analysis of the regulation’s impact on jobs. Rep. Gardner also questions whether the EPA is purposefully ignoring Executive Order 13563, which directs the periodic review of existing regulations, specifically with an eye toward the impact on job creation.
On Jan. 18, 2011, President Obama signed Executive Order 13563 on Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review; the order states under the General Principles of Regulation: “Our regulatory system must protect public health, welfare, safety, and our environment while promoting economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation."
