Chaffetz welcomes increased air pollution in national parks

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http://chaffetz.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=825#Comments

Chaffetz, Lee seek to roll back EPA rules rejecting Utah air quality control efforts
“EPA has assumed authority not granted in statute in order to impose significant costs without any discernible benefit”
Washington, Mar 13, 2017

Today, with the united support of the Utah Congressional delegation, Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) introduced legislation in the House to repeal the EPA’s Regional Haze Rule for Utah. A similar bill will be sponsored in the Senate by Utah Senator Mike Lee. The rule required the State of Utah to develop a state implementation plan to reduce visibility-impairing pollution in Class I areas such as national parks. EPA rejected Utah’s plan using criteria not granted in the statute. EPA instead used the rule to impose a problematic federal plan that imposes an estimated $700 million price tag, but achieves no visible improvement.


“EPA has assumed authority not granted in statute in order to impose significant costs without any discernible benefit. Such actions are typical of Obama-era federal overreach and must be repealed. Utah has developed a state implementation plan that complies with the statute without driving up the price of power. That’s a significant accomplishment. By rejecting EPA’s Regional Haze Rule, we enable Utah to implement its existing plan to address air quality without imposing costly and unnecessary new burdens that raise the cost of living for all who consume power.”


The State Implementation Plan submitted by the state of Utah relied on actual monitoring data rather than the EPA’s consistently incorrect computer models. EPA’s computer models have overestimated improvements attributable to emission reductions. Furthermore, the sulfur dioxide from coal mines that has been shown to contribute to haze has already been cut by 95% since power plants in Huntington and Hunter installed SO2 scrubbers in all of their units.