Inhofe: New Congress will examine ozone rule

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for ozone, expected to be released Wednesday, are already being met with opposition from conservative lawmakers.

In a statement released Tuesday night, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said the new National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone will face “rigorous oversight” in the Congress.

{mosads}“EPA’s proposal to lower the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) to between 65 parts per billion and 70 ppb will lower our nation’s economic competitiveness and stifle job creation for decades,” he said.

“The EPA’s previously proposed Ozone standard came with a price tag of up to $90 billion per year, by EPA’s own estimation. In 2011, President Obama pulled back on the 2010 proposal due to high costs and the potential of a detrimental impact to American businesses. Now the EPA is proposing an equally aggressive standard while failing to even be advised about the potential cost of lowering the standard.”

If the EPA adopts a 60 parts per billion rule, Inhofe said Oklahoma will lose 14,000 good-paying jobs, compliance costs will reach $846 million and household electricity bills across the state will increase by 15 percent to an average of $660 per year.

“I refuse to let the people of Oklahoma, and America more broadly, fall victim to EPA’s over-regulation and extreme environmentalist agenda,” he said.

“Today we are breathing the cleanest air since the Clean Air Act was passed in the 1970s, and our country should first look to meet the current Ozone standard before we even consider adding more burdensome, costly mandates.”