WASHINGTON — Congressman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, welcomed news that President Obama is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw its controversial proposal to voluntarily revisit a 2008 ozone standard — a plan that the agency itself projected would impose annual costs of as much as $90 billion.
The EPA’s ozone rule is one of numerous pending regulations from the agency that will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and impose tens of billions of dollars in costs on our already struggling economy.
“After 32 consecutive months of double-digit unemployment, Michigan cannot afford the economic costs of more ill-conceived regulations,” said Upton.
“Nearly every single county in our state and across the country would be directly impacted by the proposed change.
“I commend the president for recognizing that adding to costs of doing business is not the key to job creation and innovation. We all know that folks cannot go to work at factories that are never built or are forced to shut their doors — it is very clear that EPA’s new ozone proposal would have done just that, forcing millions of jobs to someplace other than the United States.
“While this is a very positive step forward, it is unfortunately but one of this agency’s countless regulatory proposals that have threatened jobs and contributed to greater economic uncertainty.”
Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Steward Sandstrom made the following statement on the President Obama’s announcement:
“This is a really great day for southwest Michigan and the Kalamazoo region. Had the EPA’s rules gone into effect as proposed, it would have been one of the largest job killers we have seen.
“The remediation the agency proposed would have been ridiculous and the economic consequences would have been devastating.
“We can now look forward and continue working to move our economy in a positive direction,” Sandstrom said.