WASHINGTON, DC - The House of Representatives began floor debate today on H.R. 2401, the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts to the Nation Act, known as the TRAIN Act. The bipartisan bill, introduced by Reps. John Sullivan (R-OK) and Jim Matheson (D-UT), requires an interagency review of the cumulative impacts of EPA rules on jobs, energy prices, electric reliability, and America’s overall global economic competitiveness.
Debate begins on the same day as NERA Economic Consulting releases its new analysis of four EPA rules impacting America’s power sector -the Utility MACT rule, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, the Coal Ash Rule, and the Cooling Water Intake Structure rule. NERA estimates the cumulative cost of these rules to be $21 billion annually, representing $127 billion for the period of 2012 through 2020. The analysis shows these costs will result in net job losses of 183,000 annually, with net employment losses totaling 1.65 million job-years by 2020. NERA also studied the impact of these rules on electricity rates and found that rates could increase as much as 19 percent in some areas.
These staggering numbers underscore the urgent need to put the brakes on EPA’s train wreck of regulations and demonstrate the need for a comprehensive cumulative impacts analysis. All four of the rules analyzed by NERA will be subject to review under the TRAIN Act. However, NERA’s model did not account for several other regulations which will also impact electricity generation, including EPA’s plans to regulate greenhouse gases and any further changes to ambient air quality standards.
