Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final regulation that lowers our national ground-level ozone standard to 70 parts per billion. Congressman Randy Weber (R-Friendswood) made the following statement:

“EPA’s regulation is an assault on American job creators and reflects a continuation of the burdensome and costly regulatory actions coming out of the Obama Administration, which fails to consider the impact these actions have on our economy. Texas knows how to improve air quality, and we do not need more government edicts to get in our way. In fact, ozone emissions in the Houston region are 30 percent lower than they were 15 years ago.

Mandating a lower standard that even some of our national parks will fail to meet will make it more difficult for businesses to invest and create jobs. Instead of regulating at all cost, EPA should be working with states to implement the current standard, which it only began doing this year. This regulation will prove costly for our economy, and it’s time for Congress to put a stop to this out of control, unaccountable bureaucracy.”

Last year, Congressman Weber introduced the Clear the Air with Congress Act, which would require the EPA to submit a report to Congress on the economic impact of any new ozone regulation, as well as the data used to reach its conclusions.

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