WASHINGTON - Today, Western Caucus Vice Chair Bruce Westerman (AR-04), Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04), and Congressman Buddy Carter (GA-01) led 111 House Republicans in demanding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rescinds the recently finalized rule for the National Ambient Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
“The U.S. has some of the best air quality in the world, and thanks to collaboration with industry leaders committed to being good stewards of our environment, it’s only getting better,” said Western Caucus Vice Chair Bruce Westerman. “The EPA’s unnecessary decision to tighten the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter was not made with the best interests of the environment in mind and will bring this progress to a halting stop. These onerous new standards will be logistically impossible for critical industries to execute successfully and will result in the loss of thousands of jobs and billions in economic activity. I’m proud to lead this effort, alongside Dan Newhouse and Buddy Carter, to call on the EPA to immediately rescind this job-killing rule.”
“EPA’s recent NAAQS rule is an unnecessary change that puts American manufacturing, forestry, and other industries at risk,” said Western Caucus Chairman Newhouse. “America already has stringent clean air standards and ranks top 20 globally in air quality. This new standard only serves to hamper prosperity across the country for negligible benefits while forcing businesses to close, increasing manufacturing costs, and inflicting harm to communities across the country. As Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, I’m proud to help lead this effort in urging EPA to rescind this rule and restore prosperity to rural America.”
“The Biden administration’s irresponsible and unnecessary PM2.5 standard is a death knell for vital US industries, including manufacturing and timber. As the representative from the #1 forestry state in the nation and a district that is seeing a manufacturing boom, that is deeply concerning," said House Energy and Commerce Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee Chair Buddy Carter. "America has the best environmental standards and wonderful economic potential. We must maintain both by working with industry leaders to enact practical NAAQS reforms that build on the Clean Air Act’s 40-year history of successfully improving air quality nationwide.”
The full letter can be found here.