This week, Republicans are holding hearings on the impact of EPA pollution regulations, to confirm their view that they are "job killers."
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) will not only focus on carbon emission regulations, but basically all clean air rules such as ozone standards and commercial boilers.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on "regulatory impediments to job-creation."
"Since EPA’s inception, we’ve heard concerns that meeting reasonable health standards hurts bottom lines and prevents job creation. But in truth, updating environmental standards not only closes pollution loopholes, but levels the playing field and provides certainty to businesses to create jobs," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference in Washington DC.
Since 1970, investments to comply with the Clean Air Act have provided $4-$8 in economic benefits for every $1 spent on compliance, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Since the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments in 1990, average US electricity rates have remained flat even as utilities have invested hundreds of billions of dollars to cut air pollution emissions.
Ceres released a report at the conference that finds upcoming regulations that limit power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and others will actually create 1.5 million jobs (300,000 per year over the next five years).
The rules will create a wide array of skilled construction and professional jobs – from the electricians, plumbers, laborers and engineers who will build and retrofit power plants, to operation and maintenance employees who will keep the modernized facilities running, says the report.
The result will be a modernized, cleaner American industry, well paying jobs and better health for America’s citizens.
Read the report:
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