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Date:
2
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25
/2010
News & Views
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Endangered
NAM challenges EPA on greenhouse gas decision; meanwhile, EPA grants $17 million to universities to study climate change.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and other business groups has filed a petition in federal appeals court challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) on stationary sources through the Clean Air Act. Joining the NAM on the petition are the American Petroleum Institute (API), the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA), the National Association of Home Builders, the Corn Refiners Association, the Brick Industry Association, the Western States Petrochemical Association and the National Oilseed Processors Association.
“We are challenging EPA’s ‘Endangerment Finding’ determination and focusing on whether they asked the right questions, sought the right information and whether they are meeting their burden under the standards set forth in the Clean Air Act,” said John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers. “If EPA moves forward and begins regulating stationary sources, it will open the door for them to regulate everything from industrial facilities to farms to even American homes. Such a move would further complicate a permitting process that EPA is not equipped to handle, while increasing costs to the manufacturing sector. These costly burdens and uncertainty will stifle job creation and harm our competiveness in a global economy. We support a comprehensive climate change policy that achieves real environmental results while also fostering continued economic growth – essential conditions for a healthy manufacturing sector in the United States.”
According to the EPA, the “Endangerment Finding” and subsequent regulations will trigger new permitting requirements on more than six million stationary sources. These six million sources include 200,000 manufacturing facilities, approximately 20,000 farms, and another 200,000 other sources such as universities, schools and even American homes, impacting every aspect of the U.S. economy.
In a separate announcement, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding nearly $17 million in Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants to universities across the country to study the consequences of climate change.
“EPA is engaging the academic research community, through these grants, to enable solutions that will both adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change,” said Dr. Paul T. Anastas, assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development.
The four areas of concentration include air quality; in particular, studies will focus on how weather variability, land use decisions, and industrial technology could impact ozone and fine particle pollution over the next 40 years.
The STAR research will also help assess the sensitivity of aquatic systems to possible climatic changes over the next several decades. Understanding these changes will be useful for developing regional adaptive strategies to reduce the risk of harmful impacts to water quality and aquatic ecosystems.
Grants also focus on investigating safe and effective ways to store and sequester carbon. This research will help determine if injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) deep into the ground threatens the environment and underground water resources.
Finally, the grants will help people understand how weather variability, land use decisions, and industrial technology could impact ozone and fine particle pollution over the next 40 years. The research will help guide the formation of new air quality management systems that effectively account for climate change and mitigation strategies for air quality.
More information about the grants and the grant awardees: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/climate
The National Association of Manufacturers is the nation’s largest industrial trade association, representing manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing has a presence in every single congressional district providing good, high-paying jobs. For more information about the Manufacturers, visit www.nam.org.
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