Key Vote YES on the EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011

Dear FreedomWorks member,

As one of our million-plus FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your Representative and ask him or her to vote YES on H.R. 2250, the EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011. Introduced by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), the bill would help to curtail the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Boiler MACT regulations on boilers and industrial incinerators. It would help to roll back unreasonable regulations and save thousands of American jobs.

The EPA published four highly complex new rules for boilers back in March. If the EPA moves forward with these regulations, it would raise the price of boilers, process heaters and incinerators. The EPA estimates capital expenditures to be $5.8 billion and the costs for the rules collectively to be $2.3 billion annually. However, other sources believe that the EPA has underestimated the cost of these regulations. The Council of Industrial Boiler Owners estimates that the capital cost will actually exceed $14 billion while the American Forest and Paper Association estimates costs could range from $5 to $7 billion for just the forest products industry. The costs of the EPA’s burdensome regulations will be passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices.

The new EPA rules will put thousands of jobs at risk. The Council of Industrial Boiler Owners estimates that the regulations will cost 244,000 jobs. The EPA has received more than 4,800 comments from businesses and individuals on the proposed rules. The agency must take more time to consider the compliance and implementation costs of these unnecessary regulations. The EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 will help to protect jobs and guard against harmful regulations.

I urge you to call your representatives and ask them to vote YES on H.R. 2250, the EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011. We will count their vote as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2011. The Economic Freedom Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the Jefferson Award, which recognizes members of Congress with voting records that support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO  
FreedomWorks
[Click here to see the PDF version of this key vote notice.]