Regulation

Although Congress is out this week, federal regulators have lined up another slate of important regulations.  Here are a few notable examples that will be published soon:

President Obama’s recently released budget for FY 2013 treats environment protection, financial reform, and health care as the administration’s regulatory priorities.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its final Utility MACT rule last week (also known as MATS or Toxics Rule).  The final rule’s cost was $10 billion, slightly lower than the proposed version.  In total, the federal government published $10.4 billion in regulatory burdens last week.  

“If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.  And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”  Barack Obama was just 25 when President Ronald Reagan uttered those memorable words, but he evidently took them literally. President Obama has set a new standard for boundless government hyperactivity: taxing job creators, over-regulating domestic energy, and subsidizing economic failures like Solyndra.

As congressional gridlock continues, there is a lot more at stake than payroll taxes, unemployment benefits, doctors' payments, improving job growth and a better budget outlook. Too often good policy gets forgotten amid financial decisions. Unfortunately, spectrum auctions are treated as merely a budgetary means to pay for other programs.

Today, President Obama will visit Milwaukee to deliver yet another campaign speech about his plan for American manufacturing.  On the other side of the city, there are 117 employees at the Wisconsin Electric Power Company producing power for 140,000 residents, including countless manufacturers and small businesses. 

EPA just released new regulations on Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) production but what does the rule actually do? The regulation dictates new maximum achievable control technologies (MACTs), the most stringent standard under law.  These changes were dictated to reduce facility emission of PVC below 10 tons a year or below 25 tons a year for all toxic chemicals.

What is being regulated: vents, stripped resins, equipment leaks, wastewater, heat exchanges, and storage vessels.

Costs:

President Obama campaigned on the commitment of having the most open and transparent administration in history.  Unfortunately, like President Obama’s campaign promise to lower health insurance premiums by $2,500 per family, this commitment quickly fell victim to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). 

On regulations: “In the coming year, agencies will continue to pursue the regulatory reforms identified in the retrospective review process, producing billions more in savings by simplifying rules, eliminating redundancies, and identifying more cost-effective ways of doing things.”

In addition to the President’s Budget release, which will detail funding requests for EPA, Dodd-Frank implementation, and some independent agencies, here’s what to look for this week.

Oversight Hearings: