A new analysis just released by National Economic Research Associates (NERA) shows that two costly Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed regulations on the utility industry will cost jobs and also drive up electricity prices.Specifically, the study looked at the economic impacts of the EPA's proposed Transport Rule and the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) requirements for power plants. This demonstrates what we have been saying here at the National Association of Manufacturers, that the continued overreach by the EPA will hurt jobs throughout the country.
According to a press release from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), the proposed regulations, "would lead to nationwide employment losses totaling 1.44 million job-years by 2020 and increase Americans average electricity bills by 11.5 percent." A job-year is one job for one year.
Manufacturers use approximately one-third of the energy consumed in the United States, so they are particularly sensitive to overreaching EPA proposals that will drive up energy prices. Now saddled with onerous greenhouse gas regulations and the specter of a more stringent ozone air quality standard, manufacturers are extremely reluctant to expand their facilities and create the jobs needed to put our struggling economy back on track. It's time for the EPA to scale-back on these damaging regulatory proposals.
Will the EPA listen? Of course not. It is an enforcement arm of the Executive Office for Prosperity and Harmony.