Today, the House Energy and Power Subcommittee held a hearing on a discussion draft legislation from Representative Ed Whitfield (R-KY) that would require increased transparency regarding the economic impacts of EPA regulations. Since 2009, EPA has issued or proposed an unprecedented number of regulations which increase the cost of energy, limit fuel diversity and place tremendous economic burdens on manufacturers. In a 2012 study released by NAM, it was estimated that, by conservative estimates, the cost of just six EPA rules would cost roughly $100 billion annually and more than 2 million jobs. In a worst-case scenario, the regulations could mean the loss of $630 billion, 4.2 percent of GDP and more than 9 million jobs.

The Energy Consumers Relief Act of 2013 would require EPA to submit a report to Congress projecting energy cost increases and employment effects on any EPA rule estimated to cost more than $1 billion. In addition, the discussion draft would prohibit EPA from finalizing any of these billion dollar rules if DOE, in consultation with FERC and EIA, determine that they would cause significant adverse economic effects.

As manufacturers await rules regulating everything from water used for cooling systems to greenhouse gas emissions, we need more transparency in rulemakings, and checks and balances to ensure we are not regulating the economy back into recession.

Greg Bertelsen is director of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

This morning the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade held a manufacturing showcase before the first subcommittee hearing of the new Congress on manufacturing titled, “Our Nation of Builders: Manufacturing in America.” The showcase featured a variety of manufactured products from Congressional districts of different members on the subcommittee ranging from medical devices to high-tech electronics and 3D printers.

Corning Senior Vice President of Specialty Materials James Steiner shows Subcommittee Chairman Lee Terry a few of Corning's products.

Manufacturer Corning featured optical fiber that is produced in Congressman Brett Guthrie’s district in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Corning invented the world’s first low-loss optical fiber for communications more than 40 years ago and today produces a wide range of fibers for different use.

Other products included a 5 gallon safety can and F-15 funnel made by Eagle Manufacturing in Wellsburgh, West Virginia in Congressman McKinley’s district.

Chairman Lee Terry’s district featured a City of Omaha manhole cover made by Neenah Foundry in Omaha, Nebraska. Other products featured from his district included respirators, earmuffs and safety eyewear produced by 3M who have 300 employees in his district.

One of the most popular items at the showcase was the 3D printer from Direct Dimensions in Owings Mill, Maryland. New 3D printers can produces 3D images of scanned products or even people. It’ is truly amazing technology.

Today’s event was a fantastic way to show members of Congress the great products that are being manufactured right in their own backyards.

Representative Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) political games on the Keystone XL pipeline project is only setting Americans back in their quest to find jobs — good paying jobs.  Continued attempts by the Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce committee to cause a distraction by focusing on whether or not certain companies stand to benefit from this project is deplorable.  Americans stand to benefit.  More than 20,000 jobs will be created in manufacturing and construction, not to mention the 118,000 spin-off jobs that will also be created.  Manufacturers use one-third of our nation’s energy supply and the construction of the pipeline will provide a new source of affordable energy to manufacturers.

So let’s stop playing games. Politicians can no longer claim the need to create jobs for Americans while simultaneously using their position to stand in the way of common sense projects that would do exactly that.  America is prosperous because the private-sector fuels our economy and creates jobs — this Keystone XL pipeline project is no different.

Jay Timmons is president and CEO, National Association of Manufacturers.

Leaders of the House Energy & Commerce Committee – Chairman Upton (R-MI) and Reps. Whitfield (R-KY) and Stearns (R-FL) – sent a letter to  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson asking pointed questions about her voluntary choice to establish more stringent National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone as the economy struggles to emerge from the worst recession in a generation. The letter states:

“Your choice to promulgate alternate costly new standards outside of the Clean Air Act’s normal five year review cycle defies common sense. The discretionary basis for such expensive decisions also raises serious questions about the Administration’s priorities at a time when the nation’s focus should be on economic recovery and job creation.”

The lawmakers also stated they will be using the information to prepare for a serious of hearings on the ozone standards after August recess.

Manufacturers are thrilled with the Committee’s plans to hold hearings on the proposed ozone standards which, if set at 60 parts-per-billion, could cost 7.3 million jobs by 2020 and add $1 trillion per year in new regulatory burdens between 2020 and 2030. While the EPA had initially planned to finalize the standard by July 29, significant pressure from the NAM and other industry groups have caused the agency to delay the final standard until sometime in August. We urge manufacturers to take action, and write President Obama in opposition to this completely discretionary new ozone standard that is the most expensive regulation ever proposed by any Administration or Agency.

Alicia Meads is director of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers

With the grim announcement today of the unemployment rate ticking up to 9.1 percent and only 54,000 jobs created in May, nearly 100,000 short of the estimated number, the issues of creating jobs by putting our domestic energy companies back to work is taking center stage in Congress.

Yesterday, in the House of Representatives, offshore drilling was the hot topic with three committees holding hearings on the issue. Manufacturers know that resuming drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and increasing domestic energy production will help invigorate our embattled economy and add more jobs to the payrolls.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a measure yesterday to streamline permitting for offshore drilling operations and to eliminate the bureaucratic red tape that holds up new exploration and production. According to the Committee, the measure will help create jobs and increase domestic energy supplies.

In the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Chairman Issa released a report critical of the BP/Administration Response to the Gulf Oil Spill and also held a hearing assessing the recovery efforts after the spill. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Director Michael Bromwich from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement at the Department of the Interior, both testified.

And in round three of hearings, the House Natural Resources Committee , Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a hearing on Alaskan oil and gas drilling, and the need for faster action in the permitting process. The subcommittee stressed the importance of expediting exploration and production to reduce dependence on foreign oil and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

As summer goes on and gas prices hover around four dollars a gallon, unemployment continues to tick up, the cost of goods and services rises, domestic energy production will continue to remain in the forefront of congressional debates.

Today the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing & Trade favorably reported out sensible reforms to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Since the law’s passage in 2008, the CPSC has had to stay significant portions of the law to prevent several unintended consequences. The most troubling of those unintended effects was to ban safe children’s products like bicycles, ATVs, musical instruments and even library books. None of the supporters of the law believe that these actions were intentional, nor did they intend to eliminate the sale of all children’s products by charitable organizations like Goodwill.

Another unintended consequence has been the amount and cost of unnecessary testing which has forced some micro-businesses to close their doors and continues to provide costly uncertainty to small manufacturers throughout the supply chain. Additionally, the CPSC overreached on its implementation of a public database and failed to incorporate congressionally-mandated protections to prevent its improper use by trial lawyers and advocacy groups. The CPSC also failed to implement appropriate controls to prevent false information from being included in the database. The National Association of Manufacturers applauds the Subcommittee for this legislative effort and will continue to work with Democrats and Republicans on the Committee to ensure swift passage of needed reforms.

Rosario Palmieri is vice president for infrastructure, legal and regulatory policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

More than two years after the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act became law, driving children’s bikes off the market, children’s book off library shelves, and home-based craftsmen out of business — to name just a few of its many excesses — a Congressional committee is finally going to vote on an CPSIA fix. From the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade:

Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee to Vote on Improvements to Consumer Safety Law THURSDAY

May 11, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC – The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, chaired by Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), has scheduled a markup of the Discussion Draft of H.R. ___, “Enhancing CPSC Authority and Discretion Act of 2011 (ECADA).” The markup will convene on Thursday, May 12, at 9:00 a.m. in room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

The draft legislation would revise the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) and seeks to give Consumer Product Safety Commission greater authority and flexibility to regulate based on risk.

The discussion draft of the legislation is available here. A background memo explains further: “The draft legislation’s objectives are: to reduce the regulatory burdens created by CPSIA where possible to do so without harming consumers; to enhance the Consumer Production Safety Commission’s (CPSC) ability to investigate complaints and to prioritize based on risk; and, to improve the utility and accuracy of information in the CPSC’s public database.” (continue reading…)

The House Energy and Commerce Committee this morning released a discussion draft of legislation to amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Congress passed the CPSIA in 2008 with overwhelming support only to discover that the law’s ham-handed approach to regulating children’s products did enormous damage to businesses and consumers alike, driving ATVs and kids bikes off the market, pre-1985 children’s books out libraries, warm jackets out of thrift stores and small craftspeople — like knitters and hand-made toy manufacturers — out of business.

Grossly expensive testing requirements also increase costs of manufactured goods to consumers with no discernible safety benefits.

In many cases, the Consumer Product Safety Commission sought to minimize the harm of the law’s overreach by granting stays of enforcement. However, the CPSC’s discretion is limited by the clear — if unreasonable — language of the statute. It’s up to Congress to reform and repair the law.

(In one prominent case, however, the CPSC far exceeded its authority, developing a product safety complaint database with loosey-goosey reporting standards that invite the filing of false and inaccurate complaints. Trial lawyers and their “consumer activist” allies are delighted, but the CPSC’s overreach puts companies’ reputation at risk. We’re glad to see the draft bill include a section that could correct the CPSC’s bad decision.)

Two entire years, 2009 and 2010, passed without Congress doing much of anything to fix the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, despite the law’s many, serious excesses. Jobs were destroyed for no good reason, yet the 111th Congress failed to act.

It’s still early, but the draft legislation from the Energy and Commerce Committee represents the most significant progress made to improve the CPSIA. With a legislative vehicle to work on, the House can move forward with hearings and intensive work with industry groups and individuals affected by the law’s excesses. (continue reading…)

Washington Post, “EPA chief Lisa Jackson perpetually on Capitol Hill hot seat“:

Republicans say that studies such as one by two manufacturers’ groups projected that 7 million jobs would be lost in the decade beginning in 2020 if their client organizations are forced to pay up to $1 trillion to meet the EPA’s ozone standards, said Alicia Meads, director of energy and resource policy for the National Association of Manufacturers. Meads also cited a study by the Council for Industrial Boiler Owners that said 16,000 jobs would be lost for every $1 billion spent to comply with EPA boiler regulations.

“We consider it an overreach,” Meads said. “This administration has been extremely aggressive in environmental regulations, and it’s very hard for our members to keep up with them.”

Wall Street Journal, “EPA Tangles with New Critic: Labor“:

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration’s environmental agenda, long a target of American business, is beginning to take fire from some of the Democratic Party’s most reliable supporters: Labor unions.

Several unions with strong influence in key states are demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency soften new regulations aimed at pollution associated with coal-fired power plants. Their contention: Roughly half a dozen rules expected to roll out within the next two years could put thousands of jobs in jeopardy and damage the party’s 2012 election prospects.

House Energy and Commerce news release, March 8, “Upton, Inhofe Question Process for Reconsidering EPA’s Ozone Standards“: (continue reading…)

This morning the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power approved the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011 (H.R. 910) by a voice vote. This legislation prevents the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act.

Manufacturers are facing tremendous uncertainty and potential permitting delays as the EPA moves forward with its regulation of GHG emissions. The EPA also has made it clear that it will continue to manipulate its authority under the Clean Air Act to require GHG emission reductions from existing facilities, placing unrealistic and unnecessary overregulation on manufacturers. This will only result in a stifling of economic growth, a substantial spike in energy prices, and ultimately, additional job losses.

NAM is encouraged the Energy and Tax Prevention Act has passed the subcommittee and we hope this legislation will continue to move swiftly through the legislative process.