Forbes Piece: A New Slew Of EPA Air Rules Add To Biden’s Contradictory Policies

[Note: This story was also posted at Forbes.com]

US President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House after arriving on Marine One in Washington, DC, US, on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022. The White House yesterday sought to reframe comments by Biden on closing coal plants as part of a US "energ,…© 2022 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP

I’ve written many times here about the Biden Administration’s “green dilemma” with respect to mining critical minerals needed to make the energy transition to renewables a reality. Now, the Biden Administration is facing another dilemma - implement costly Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air rules that make it harder to build, or provide regulatory relief that allows for the buildout of new infrastructure needed for the energy transition and the revitalization of domestic manufacturing. 

Unsurprisingly, the Biden Administration is trying to have it both ways and tell the public it is focused on the bringing back manufacturing while the EPA is hard at work proposing burdensome and costly regulations that could cause further permitting delays or halt projects in certain areas. On his “Investing in America” tour, Biden touted that domestic manufacturing will help to avert the supply chain crisis that crippled the economy during the pandemic and create good paying jobs. It’s the same message that Biden has repeated on his campaign and in his State of the Union addresses two years in a row. 

Meanwhile, the EPA is preparing and proposing a slew of standards that directly go against the Biden Administration’s priority to revitalize American manufacturing. The agency recently finalized the “Good Neighbor” plan, a regulatory action taken under the Clean Air Act, designed to force power plants and factories to sharply cut emissions that cross state lines involving 23 states, many of which are energy-producing and industrial centers. The rule has been criticized as “confusing and inconsistent” and is expected to be challenged in court. The EPA is also considering standards on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) which provides no way for some firms to comply, and ozone, which EPA’s own scientists and advisors can’t seem to agree on.  

These rules make it seems like America has major air pollution problems, but EPA’s own data as of 2020 shows that common pollutants, including PM2.5, have declined by 78% since 1970. The U.S. already has some of the strictest regulations in the world and we are outpacing our global competitors. Given the advertised overall objective of Biden energy policies, it seems illogical and counterproductive to crack down further now. 

Making permitting harder and lengthier than it already is not only hurts manufacturers with existing operations, but it could also jeopardize the new clean energy manufacturing deemed necessary to reach decarbonization goals. If government prevents manufacturing growth here, other countries, especially those that don’t have the same rigorous regulations, will step in, and fill the void left by the U.S. manufacturers.