Industry pressures Obama on smog rules during Midwest bus tour

Industry groups are putting pressure on the White House to scuttle looming ozone regulations with new advertisements running in the Midwest aimed at undercutting the political message of President Obama’s bus tour.

The groups — which include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute — launched an advertising campaign this week blasting the Environmental Protection Agency’s upcoming ozone regulations as a major burden on the economy.

The advertisements will run on television, radio and in newspapers along the route of Obama’s bus tour, which stopped Monday in Minnesota and Iowa and will continue Tuesday in Illinois.

“America needs jobs, not more government regulation,” the television advertisement says.

The industry groups have been working behind the scenes for months to stop the ozone regulations, appealing directly to the White House and EPA in a series of meetings. They say the EPA should wait until 2013 to reconsider the rules put in place by then-President Bush in 2008.

The industry groups are meeting Tuesday afternoon at the White House to lay out their concerns.

Public-health groups, who have pressed the White House to “stand strong” in the face of industry opposition, will also meet Tuesday at the White House to discuss the standards. The updated ozone rules will offer huge public-health benefits, both the EPA and clean-air groups say.

The EPA has delayed the release of the final regulations a number of times in recent months, missing a July 29 deadline to unveil the standards. Last week, the EPA said in a court filing that it intends to issue updated ozone standards “shortly,” but did not offer a specific deadline for finalizing the rules.

This story was updated at 1:21 p.m.