Business groups take smog battle to White House, EPA

A powerful business group is appealing directly to the White House to scuttle looming EPA smog rules, alleging the regulation “threatens to seriously impede economic expansion.”

The effort comes as several industry associations are also planning to meet Friday afternoon with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to discuss looming air pollution requirements they call burdensome.

The Business Roundtable makes its case against the upcoming ozone standards in a Friday letter to White House chief of staff Bill Daley.

Business and industry groups are battling EPA’s decision to rewrite a 2008 Bush administration rule that the agency’s current leadership calls too weak.

The Business Roundtable letter says the rules will force imposition of costly pollution controls on new and expanding businesses in counties that are determined to be out of compliance with the stricter air standards.

This will prompt companies to close some facilities and site new ones elsewhere, including outside the U.S., the letter says.

It states:

According to EPA, in many counties across the country existing businesses will have to install “all known control measures,” assuming adequate capital can be secured for no/low‐return investments. This uncertainty and the difficulty of obtaining emission offsets and permits will discourage capital investment and make these counties less competitive.

The group’s membership includes a broad swath of companies, including major manufacturing, power, chemical and oil companies.

The Business Roundtable and other industry groups – joined by Capitol Hill Republicans and some Democrats – are calling on EPA to hold off until the next scheduled five-year federal review of ozone standards is completed in 2013.

EPA sent its final smog rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review several days ago, and plans to issue the final standard this summer.

In addition to the White House appeal, Business Roundtable President John Engler will meet later Friday afternoon with EPA’s Jackson to discuss a series of regulations that industry and business groups say are overly burdensome, including the upcoming ozone standards and air pollution rules for industrial boilers.

Engler will be joined at the meeting by American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard and National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

Jackson defended the upcoming smog rules in a letter to a Senate Democrat this week.