President Obamas New Economic Plan Must Reign in the EPA
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. If President Obama is really serious about stimulating economic growth he must get control over the EPA bureaucracy which is operating as a job killing machine policy experts from the National Center for Public Policy Research said earlier today urging President Obama to reign in the EPA as the fastest and cheapest way to stimulate the economy.
The EPA is infecting the business environment with a plague of new regulations and is compounding its affliction on the economy by denying permits for job creating projects said Tom Borelli Ph.D. director of
the National Centers Free Enterprise Project.
The severe negative impacts of regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency effect jobs and economic growth said Borelli.
In addition to harming todays economy the actions taken by the EPA will reduce our competitiveness and our national security added Tom Borelli.
As a result of new EPA regulations several utilities including American Electric Power Duke Energy and Southern Company recently announced they are closing coal-fired power plants because of the excessive costs to meet the agencys new standards. Layoffs increases in electricity prices and possible power shortages from the power plant closings will exacerbate the negative economic landscape.
States such as Ohio that are dependent on coal for energy would be preferentially harmed by the EPA. A study by National Economic Research Associates reported that EPAs Cross-State Air Rule and the Utility MACT
Rule would result in a loss of 53500 job-years in Ohio by 2020. The report also estimated that these new regulations could increase the average price for electricity in Ohio as high as 12.9 percent by 2016.
The economic impact of EPAs actions in Ohio alone is staggering; just imagine what the damage will be for the entire country said Tom Borelli.
The EPA is also blocking development of important projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline that would pump oil from Canadian oil sands to refineries in Texas. Its estimated that construction of the 2000-mile pipeline would produce billions of dollars in tax revenue from thousands of construction jobs. The added 900000 barrels a day would contribute to our energy security.
In the wake of our current economic crisis President Obama must surrender his war on fossil fuels by calling off the EPAs harassment of the industry. Obama needs to examine his options to stop EPAs regulatory madness. Jobs are desperately needed in our country especially among blacks who are being disproportionately harmed by the high unemployment rate said Deneen Borelli full-time fellow of Project 21.
Halting the EPA is an economic emergency. Obamas homework while on vacation in Marthas Vineyard should be to find a way to control the EPA that does not require Congressional action. All Obama needs is the will to do the right thing for the American people added Deneen Borelli.
The National Center For Public Policy Research is a conservative free-market non-profit think-tank established in 1982.
