While pending regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act (despite Congressional rejection of cap-and-trade) has received the lion’s share of the attention, the Environmental Protection Agency has also begun developing and finalizing a slew of overreaching and inefficient air and water rules over the next several years that will dramatically increase energy costs, cause enormous negative impacts to jobs and the economy, irreparably damage the competitiveness of American business, and trample on state sovereignty in the process.
Economy Derailed: State-by-State Impacts of the EPA Regulatory Train Wreck, published in April of 2012, details the most onerous EPA regulations and their specific consequences on state economies. The report highlights the environmental quality improvements made over the past few decades, provides an exhaustive reference list of organizations and groups that oppose the EPA overreach, and makes recommendations on how state legislators can play a role in maintaining state sovereignty over environmental protection.
EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck: Strategies for State Legislators, published in February of 2011, outlines the costs of major EPA rules on the national level, tells the true story of America’s modern clean air and water successes, and outlines best practices for state legislators. The report explores more than 15 pieces of ALEC model legislation related to regulatory review and state environmental sovereignty, contains a glossary of Clean Air Act terminology, and includes responses from state environmental officials to the heavy-handed approach of EPA.
For more information about EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck, you can download the 2011 report or 2012 report, or contact Todd Wynn, Director of ALEC’s Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force, at 202.742.8542 or twynn@alec.org.