The new year will kick off with oral arguments in a case opposing President Obama’s environmental regulations for reducing smog-forming ozone emissions, the federal appeals court in Washington has announced.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled oral arguments for Feb. 16 to hear an industry challenge led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.The ozone rule was finalized in October 2015. And even though the Environmental Protection Agency agreed to ease the stringency of the rule, it didn’t go far enough for business groups.The Chamber and a coalition of industry groups argued in court briefs that the regulations are unnecessary given that previous regulations for smog have not been met yet. They say the new regulations represent a violation of the Clean Air Act.The ozone rules have been met with opposition in Congress, with the GOP looking to make changes to curtail the EPA’s ability to make changes to the ozone standards at its discretion and with little concern for its feasibility or its impact on the economy. One of the groups suing over the rules, the National Association of Manufacturers, was busy Tuesday at the polls promoting its manufacturing campaign to get voters to support candidates who support development and manufacturing jobs.
The group has been highly critical of the Obama administration’s energy and environmental agenda, especially the ozone rule. The EPA had been considering requiring smog emissions to be cut from 75 parts per billion to as low as 60 ppb, but ended up with a cut to 70 ppb. The group funded a report before the rule was final that said the rule’s stringency would reduce the country’s annual earnings by $270 billion, costing the country $3.4 trillion from 2017 to 2040.
The regulations, which the Chamber says would make big development projects such as highways impossible because regions that don’t meet the standards would lose federal funding for infrastructure projects, would translate to 2.9 million fewer jobs per year through 2040.
