Dive Brief:
- The House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday voted along party lines to approve the Ozone Standards Implementation Act, which would delay the Obama administration's ozone rule and change the way future rules are considered.
- Key among the act's provisions: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would be charged with considering costs when proposing new ozone rules — which would then be done once per decade, rather than every five years.
- Democrats decried the measure as an attempt to gut the Clean Air Act, saying it would fundamentally change the way clean air rules are written.
Dive Insight:
On Wednesday the House Committee on Energy and Commerce advanced H.R. 4775 to the full House, moving the lower chamber closer to a debate over Obama's ozone mandates and how clean air rules are written.
"No one opposes clean air or clean water," Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), a sponsor of the measure, said in a statement.
However, Latta said he and other lawmakers are concerned about the costs of implementing the 2015 ozone standard while previous revisions of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard are beginning to be implemented. The move, Lattta said, "will prove extremely expensive and lead to incredible costs for my home state of Ohio."
The proposed measure would allow states "more time to implement the newest standard, which is key for ensuring that we do not stifle the incredible advances we have made in the energy, manufacturing and chemical sectors," Lattta said.
The Hill reports the legislation could delay implementation of new rules by up to eight years. The U.S. EPA’s 2015 NAAQS standard for ozone would reduce allowables from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 70 ppb.
“Let’s not pretend that the legislative changes in this bill are simply tinkering around the margins of the Clean Air Act,” Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.), said, according to The Hill. “This is radical change. Weakening protections of the law won’t make air pollution go away.”
The legislative push against the new ozone standards comes after legal attempts to combat the rule have faltered. The D.C. Circuit Court last year rejected multiple challenges from states and fossil fuel interests that argued the EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously in writing and implementing ozone regulations finalized under President Bush in 2008