The House on Regulation: Passage of Two EPA Reform Measures
By strong bipartisan majorities, the House passed sweeping reform of EPA’s power to regulate boiler emissions and coal ash. The Boiler MACT legislation (H.R. 2250) passed 275-142, receiving 41 Democratic votes and no Republican dissenters. Coal ash reform (H.R. 2273) passed last Friday with 267 votes and the support of 37 Democrats.
The Boiler MACT reform has received the most scrutiny of the two rules. However, EPA’s 137-page proposed coal ash rule carries heavy costs and would “regulate for the first time, coal combustion residuals.” Combined, the two rules could:
- Impose more than $3.2 billion in industry costs;
- Require 3.1 million annual paperwork burden hours; and
- Endanger close to 800,000 U.S. jobs, according to Global Insight.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the “Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act” (H.R. 2273), sponsored by Representative David McKinley, would:
- Allow states to set up a permit program for coal residuals (coal ash);
- Permit EPA to establish a program for states if a Governor notifies EPA that a state will not set up a coal ash permit program; and
- Allow states six months, from enactment of the legislation, to notify EPA of their intention to implement their own coal ash permit program.
According to the Cantor Memo, the remaining regulatory reform measures include: Grandfathered Health Plans under ObamaCare, reforming EPA’s farm dust regulation, addressing EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases, and NLRB’s fast-track election rule.
The schedule also addresses EPA’s ozone standards, but with the formal delay of stringent standards, it appears unlikely that the House will examine the ozone proposals.
