House Passes Bill to Roll Back Clean Air Regs

On September 23, the House of Representatives passed legislation to weaken or delay a host of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations authorized by the Clean Air Act. The Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act of 2011 (H.R. 2401), also known as the TRAIN Act, passed by a vote of 249-169 – with 230 Republicans and 19 Democrats voting for the bill. Four Republicans and 165 Democrats voted against the bill.

The TRAIN Act would limit EPA’s ability to restrict emissions of life-threatening air pollutants, including mercury, soot, and smog. It also would create an interagency panel led by the Commerce Department to evaluate the economic impact of new EPA rules, indefinitely delaying their implementation, while establishing mandatory several-year delays of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and other regulations. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule will regulate power plant emissions that cross state lines beginning in 2012 and is projected to prevent up to 34,000 deaths per year .

Bill proponents argue that EPA regulations prevent job growth by imposing too great a burden on industry. They say firms would save money on compliance costs if the TRAIN Act became law.

However, history has shown that phased-in, sensible regulations can spur innovation, greater competitiveness, and growth. In fact, an EPA impact analysis found that the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 will ultimately generate $2 trillion in economic benefits between 1990 and 2020 – 30 times the direct implementation cost of $65 billion. These regulations will also prevent 230,000 premature deaths, 75,000 cases of chronic bronchitis, 200,000 cases of heart disease, and 2.4 million cases of asthma exacerbation on an annual basis by the year 2020.

Furthermore, the EPA regulations in question have been long anticipated. Industry needs regulatory certainty so that rule changes can be incorporated into their planning. The TRAIN Act would create damaging uncertainty, ultimately unhelpful to industry in an ever more competitive global economy in which reduced emissions have significant value.

Although this attempt to roll back environmental safeguards is not likely to become law – the bill is not anticipated to pass the Senate and the President has indicated he would veto it – EPA’s regulatory authority may remain in jeopardy as some in Congress see environmental quality and economic prosperity as mutually exclusive. Instead, policymakers should consider the very real economic benefits of clean air, including reduced health care costs and improved worker productivity, when weighing the impacts of EPA regulations.