Chris Jahn is the President and CEO of the American Chemistry Council.
Federal Newswire:
What does the American Chemistry Council do?
Chris Jahn:
The American Chemistry Council represents companies in the business of chemistry. Those are names like Dow and DuPont that most folks would recognize … down to small manufacturers all over the United States. They manipulate molecules to make modern life possible.
Pretty much everything that's manufactured depends on…[and] starts with our members. Your phone, the chair I'm sitting in, the computer screen, all that starts with our members in the business of chemistry.
Federal Newswire:
What regulatory obstacles affect innovation in your industry?
Chris Jahn:
The business of chemistry is already the most heavily regulated sector of the entire manufacturing industry–over one million restrictions on manufacturers in the Code of Federal Regulations right now. The compliance cost with that is several billion dollars per year.
What I am concerned about is that there are 13 proposed regulations that would have a collective cost on our industry of $7 billion per year, and would increase our compliance costs by at least 50%.
As we go forward, the concern is that you're going to kill the golden goose. If you're concerned about implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act, ... [and] if you're going to stop our ability to manufacture chemicals in this country that support electric vehicles, solar panels, and other materials that the administration's looking for, that's going to be a big problem.
Federal Newswire:
How well do the EPA and other agencies work with the industry?
Chris Jahn:
All of us having lived through the COVID era know how challenging the supply chain problems were, and how that helped spike inflation. That's what we would return to if we continue down this course.
If we decide that we're not going to make these things and we're going to make them instead in places like China, then what's going to happen is you're going to exacerbate the supply chain challenges we have and we're going to raise the cost of living for all Americans.
We've done some polling on this … and 71% of Americans agree that the Biden Administration needs to review additional restrictions from EPA more carefully.
Interestingly enough, that's a bipartisan issue. Both Republicans and Democrats agree on this. They want the EPA to take a step back, and have what they're reviewing driven by science. That's unfortunately not what's happening right now.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't have regulations. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying we can do it smarter and more effectively than what's currently on the table right now.
Federal Newswire:
What happens if the EPA fails to emphasize a scientific approach?
Chris Jahn:
I think the way I would put it is that bad science leads to bad policy. It's not any more complicated than that.
I mentioned 13 regulations targeted at our industry right now. There are another 40 to 50 regulations in the queue behind that, that would be targeted at our industry.
In the previous three administrations–President’s Bush, Obama, and Trump combined–there were only two for all three of those administrations. With this administration, we've got seven. You can't tell me that science is driving things when we've got that level of regulatory overreach taking place.
Federal Newswire:
Is Congress doing its job, making sure there is oversight?
Chris Jahn:
I think there's a risk there and that's what we're calling for, additional congressional oversight of significant regulations on the chemical sector. They need to look at EPA actions and whether those are appropriate, whether they will cut off access to products and technologies needed to make American energy, vehicles, infrastructure, healthcare, and semiconductors. The list goes on and on.
They do need to do their job and we need to hold the Administration accountable. That's either party and any administration. The Congress passes the laws, the administration implements them. But Congress has a responsibility to make sure that they're implementing them appropriately.
What we're really asking for is to go back to congressional intent. Go back and look at what Congress asked for–are we actually doing that right now? Our answer is, that's not the case. We've headed in the wrong direction and Congress can help redirect it in the appropriate direction.
Federal Newswire:
How does political polarization impact what you're trying to do at American Chemistry?
Chris Jahn:
It's tough. It makes it challenging. There's bipartisan support for manufacturing, making things in this country. There's a lot of rhetoric around that from both parties, but we don't necessarily see actions that match the rhetoric. I think that's the problem.
We've met with a lot of folks in the Administration. They certainly are listening, so I don't want to accuse them of not listening to us. What I am concerned about is we need them to act. We need them to give this appropriate attention and to make sure that our concerns are addressed so that we can continue to make things in this country.
Look at the policy decisions that have been made on the European continent over the past decade. Their price of energy is five times what ours is, and that has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. It's because of the bad policy decisions that they have made over this past decade.
We can avoid that here in the United States. We've seen that movie and we know how it ends, and we need to take a different path forward.
Federal Newswire:
When you talk to members of Congress and the Administration, are they aware of the anxiety Americans are feeling in terms of their economic future?
Chris Jahn:
Absolutely. It's what we talk about.
What we lead with is that we employ more than half a million Americans in the business of chemistry right now. But in addition to that, more than seven people for every job in the business of chemistry…rely on our industry for their job. That's over 4 million Americans that rely on chemistry for their employment. We always point that out.
We also point out that more than half of our members are small businesses. They're small manufacturers. They aren't the big global giants that are able to sometimes navigate these challenging circumstances. This has a significant impact in hometowns all across the country.
We talk about that, and then we talk about the impacts on the supply chain, the impacts on inflation. This polling data is brand new, and we're going to share that information with those folks as well.
Federal Newswire:
American industries, innovations, and free enterprise have lifted people out of poverty–does this resonate with critics of your industry?
Chris Jahn:
I'm a strong believer in American exceptionalism and American innovation. By every measure, the environment is cleaner than it was 50 years ago when the EPA was created. Our air is cleaner, our water's cleaner. Now, do we have more work to do? Yes, we do.
The chemistry industry will help us get there with alternative forms of energy and by continuing to make progress. For example, if you have more plastic in a vehicle, you make that vehicle more lightweight and you have less emissions.
Michael Bloomberg is spending $85 million on a campaign against our industry. He's attacking us with misinformation and wants to stop our industry from operating. At the same time, we've helped get good policies passed here in the past year that would actually reduce our impact on the climate.
A year ago, we passed a climate treaty that got bipartisan support. To pass a treaty in the United States Senate, you have to get two thirds of the vote. You got more than two thirds vote for a treaty that will reduce, eliminate hydrofluorocarbons, and replace them with advanced materials that our members make in the heating and air conditioning space.
By itself [this] would reduce warming in the environment by the end of the century by half a degree. We're trying to get [an additional] one and a half degrees. We get a third of the way there with just this change. Nobody is aware of this.
We're going to continue to try to tell our story about how we are making that possible. We're going to keep telling stories like this until government decision makers understand that and act accordingly.
Federal Newswire:
How do we show that the way to reduce inflation and help the environment is through innovation?
Chris Jahn:
We're playing the long game here [and we] continue with that message that American success relies on American chemistry. That's part of a campaign at www.chemistrycreates.org that we have just launched.
A quick story… you need 500 different chemistries to manufacture a computer chip. The Biden administration and Congress have worked very hard to onshore the supply chain for that. But the EPA is looking to ban five different chemistries that you need to manufacture semiconductors. That doesn't make any sense.
The decisions that EPA makes have consequences. Can you partner with industry? Can you talk to industry? Can you work with us to get the environmental benefits that you're looking for, but to make sure that we can continue to manufacture these things in the United States for the benefit of all Americans?
Federal Newswire:
Do policymakers, as well as Congressional and Committee staff understand this as a bipartisan issue?
Chris Jahn:
I think we're in the job of connecting those dots for them and helping them understand that. I'll cut them a little bit of slack and say, "Look, the federal government is a multi-trillion dollar enterprise." It's huge, and it's involved in everything. We could have a conversation about fixing that some other time but they have a lot on their plate. I understand that and respect that.
It's our job, our responsibility to make sure that they understand the impacts of the decisions that they make.
Two-thirds to three-quarters of Americans are concerned about the cost of living. They're concerned about the supply chain. They're concerned about putting food on their family's plates. The American people, both Republicans and Democrats, want us to do a better job of governing ourselves and our country, and driving forward in making things in this country, and making life more affordable for everyday Americans.
Federal Newswire:
Are there opportunities for the American Chemistry Council to partner with the scientific community outside of your industry or in government to advance good policy?
Chris Jahn:
Yes, there are. I am bullish on the future of America, the future of our industry, and American ingenuity and innovation. There's a variety of things that our industry's helping to drive going forward that we can be tremendously proud of.
For example, [we can] rebuild roads, bridges, with new materials that will make them last longer…and carry more traffic going forward.
There's tremendous opportunities in our space. This economy is going to need one million more STEM employees by 2030, science, technology, engineering and math. We're open for business.
Instead of creating another app on your phone,pur engineers drive change at scale. It's really exciting, and I'm really bullish about the future and working with the government in partnership to drive positive change going forward.
