Gov. Nikki Haley, Republican Governors Oppose EPA’s Ozone Regulation Proposal
March 16, 2015
COLUMBIA, SC – Governor Nikki Haley, along with 10 other Republican governors, sent a letter today to Gina McCarthy, President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, to express opposition to proposed changes in the National Ambient Air Quality Standard rules for ground-level ozone emissions.
An excerpt of the governors’ letter is below:
“In the four decades since the Clean Air Act was signed into law, our states have driven unprecedented improvements in air quality. We have done so while adhering to the core principle that meaningful environmental measures can and must coexist with free market policies that promote job growth and economic freedom. Your agency’s new proposed change to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone jettisons these free market policies in favor of an onerous, job-crushing standard. As chief protectors of our states’ economies, we oppose this proposed change to the NAAQS for ground-level ozone. …
… According to an estimate by the Congressional Research Service, EPA’s power-grab could plunge anywhere from 76% to 96% of the counties currently monitored for ozone into nonattainment.
Nonattainment is an economic penalty box so severe that needed economic growth is stunted. In nonattainment areas, any growth is predicated on successfully navigating a bureaucratic maze of federal and state regulators.”
