U.S. manufacturers and environmental activists are competing for influence ahead of the presidential primary elections, which begin next week.
The National Association of Manufacturers launched a campaign Thursday in key battleground states to send a message to Congress and presidential candidates that the group wants to hear more than just talk when it comes to environmental regulations and other industry priorities regarding energy.
“We have to strike a balance between our laudable ambitions for improving our environment and what is actually commercially feasible,” said Jay Timmons, the president of the group, in starting the campaign in New Hampshire.
“America should be, and can be, an economic and environmental leader,” he said, but that will come from making greater use of the U.S.’s abundant resources and taking advantage of more advanced manufacturing technologies.
“It is encouraging to hear candidates on the campaign trail talk about manufacturing, but we want more than just talk,” Timmons said. “We must ensure the next president understands what a real manufacturing agenda looks like,” he said. “Members of Congress and candidates for office need to know what policies to pursue.”
The tour comes one day after the group, joined by utilities and nearly every other industry sector, and 29 states, asked the Supreme Court to halt President Obama’s climate change rules.
Meanwhile, billionaire climate change activist Tom Steyer is pressing the GOP to make aggressive action on clean energy a central theme in the race for the Oval Office, especially in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses Monday.
“The Republican candidates’ proposals would squander an opportunity to grow Iowa’s economy by $1.7 billion by 2030 and put thousands of wind jobs at risk,” Steyer said Thursday. “By refusing to embrace clean energy, the Republican candidates continue to put themselves at odds with Iowans in both parties — and disqualify themselves from the White House.”
Steyer has been tracking the Democratic and Republican televised debates. His group, NextGen Climate, was in Des Moines for the seventh GOP debate hosted by the Fox News network Thursday night.
The group said it deployed mobile billboards throughout the city, with television, radio and digital ads to “highlight the presidential candidates’ failure to stand with Iowa’s GOP leadership and support thousands of Iowan jobs.” His group also criticized the Democrats for sidelining the issue, saying they need to devote an entire debate the issue of global warming.
Ross Eisenberg, the National Association of Manufacturers’ vice president for energy policy, told the Washington Examiner that the manufacturing sector has been able to deal with regulations over the years, but under the Obama administration the policy has gone far beyond the technology needed to comply.
His group is in several court fights over regulations, including the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and far-reaching ozone rules for smog. Eisenberg said the ozone regulations, considered the most expensive rules in history, are a prime example of agencies not understanding its limits.
Once one set of rules “are done, they just begin again” without much attention to whether they are achievable or necessary, he said. Regulations on appliance efficiency, which are part of the president’s climate change agenda, are another example of increased regulation that has the sector perplexed.
It’s surprising, said Eisenberg, because the appliance “guys have been quite good in dealing with regulations.” But under Obama’s agenda, it has become “death by a thousand cuts” with one strict regulation after another, he said. The appliance rules are “driving our guys absolute bonkers” because “there is no end” to the new regulations, he said.
He said the regulations are so burdensome that Congress has to get involved. He says many of the appliance manufacturers want broad regulatory reform to be high on the agenda in the election year.
Eisenberg said another big issue for 2016 will be pipeline development. He said the number of complaints over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission slow-walking approvals of new natural gas pipelines is climbing.
Timmons said natural gas pipelines will be a key driver of development in New Hampshire and the traditionally energy-constrained Northeast.
“Our leaders can approve and build new oil and natural gas pipeline projects that improve energy access — particularly in the Northeastern United States, where this infrastructure is lacking. And they can support measures to enhance the deployment of energy-efficient technologies,” Timmons said.
