By Dr. Merrill Matthews Ph.D.
Texas Insider Report: Dallas Texas Sometimes you just have to wonder if the Environmental Protection Agency has it out for Texas and ironically for 
President Obama.
This Thursday EPA officials will hold a public hearing at Arlington City Hall on a proposal that if implemented would be devastating to the Texas economy.
EDITORs NOTE - HEARING DETAILS:
WHAT: EPA will hold three public hearings on the proposed updates to the national air quality standards for ground-level ozone also known as smog. EPA has proposed to strengthen the standards to a level within a range of 65 to 70 parts per billion to better protect Americans health and the environment while taking comment on a level as low as 60 ppb.
WHEN: Jan. 29: Arlington Texas. Hearing will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 7:30 p.m. local time
WHERE: Arlington City Hall 101 W. Abram Street Arlington Texas 76010 Preliminary list of speakers for Arlington
Texas has been responsible for virtually all of the countrys net new job growth job growth the president never tires of boasting about. As American Enterprise Institute economist Mark J. Perry recently explainedTexas is solely responsible for the 1.169 million net increase in total U.S. employment (1444290 Texas jobs minus the 275290 non-Texas job loss) in the seven-year period between the start of the Great Recession in December 2007 and December 2014." (Emphasis in original.)
EPA officials want to tighten restrictions on ground level ozone from the current 75 parts per billion to between 65 and 70 ppb though its clear EPA officials really want to drop the level to 60 ppb.
This rule is yet another example of an overzealous federal agency that to paraphrase Will Rogers and later Jack Kemp never met a regulation it didnt hike. The change would generate tiny if any environmental benefits but have a huge negative economic impact.
Regulations impose additional costs on employers which lead to lower wages and lost jobs. A National Association of Manufacturers-sponsored economic-impact analysis of the 60 ppb standard suggests that change would reduce Texans incomes by the equivalent of 182347 in lost jobs per year.
That equates to $48 billion in lost state GDP between 2017 and 2040 or $970 less in household consumption each year.
And those new regulations would increase residential electricity bills by an estimated 15 which disproportionately affects lower-income households. Those in the bottom fifth of income spend 24 of their 
income on electricity compared with 4 for the top fifth.
This ozone rule is only the latest in a long list of unwarranted regulations. Last April the agency proposed onerous restrictions to cut emissions from new wood-burning stoves and heaters beginning in 2015" according Maine Governor of Paul R. LePage.
In 2010 the EPA went after lead bullets eventually driving the last bullet-producing lead smelter to close its doors on Dec. 31 2013" according to Fox News.
Of course the energy industry would be most damaged by the EPAs rule at a time when it is already struggling due to lower oil prices.
Oil services company Baker Hughes just announced its laying off 7000 people and Halliburton has implied it will also be announcing layoffs. And you know what the green-energy-obsessed EPA calls 
massive layoffs in the Texas oil and gas industrya good start.
Even some environmentalists think the EPAs rule would be too restrictive.
For example when Bush administration EPA officials wanted to lower ozone emissions to between 70 and 75 ppb Dr. Roger McClellan the EPAs former chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee called it a policy judgment based on a flawed and inaccurate presentation of the science" suggesting that existing ozone limits should actually be raised closer to 80 ppb.
The EPA meeting is free and open to the public so residents should consider the facts and express their concerns. If implemented this ozone ceiling reduction would kill off Texas jobs and handicap future economic growth and achieve virtually nothing in return.
And if the economic negatives arent enough to dissuade the EPA those Obama appointees should consider that if they kill the Texas jobs machine Obama wont have any job growth to boast of.
Dr. Merrill Matthews is a Resident Scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) in Dallas Texas. Follow him on Twit at twitter.com/MerrillMatthews.
