EPA Employment Impact Analysis Act - Prohibits the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from proposing or finalizing any major rule under the Clean Air Act (CAA) until after the Administrator: (1) completes an economy-wide analysis capturing the costs and effects across industry sectors and markets in the United States of the implementation of major rules promulgated under the CAA; and (2) establishes a process to update such analysis at least semiannually, in order to provide for the currently required continuing evaluation of potential loss or shifts in employment.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2161 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2161
To prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
from issuing any final rule under the Clean Air Act until the date on
which the Administrator improves certain employment effect analyses
under that Act.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 26, 2014
Mr. Inhofe (for himself, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Thune, Mr.
Barrasso, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Crapo, Mr.
Chambliss, Mr. Coats, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Flake, Mr. Isakson, Mr.
Johnson of Wisconsin, Mr. Moran, Mr. Risch, Mr. Scott, Mr. Shelby, Mr.
Enzi, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Lee, Mr. Johanns, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Grassley, Mr.
Wicker, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Burr, and Mr. Graham) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment
and Public Works
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
from issuing any final rule under the Clean Air Act until the date on
which the Administrator improves certain employment effect analyses
under that Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``EPA Employment Impact Analysis
Act''.
SEC. 2. ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) the Environmental Protection Agency has systematically
distorted the true impact of regulations promulgated by the
Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act (42
U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) on job creation by using incomplete
analyses to assess effects on employment, primarily as a result
of the Environmental Protection Agency failing to take into
account the cascading effects of a regulatory change across
interconnected industries and markets nationwide;
(2) despite the Environmental Protection Agency finding
that the impact of certain air pollution regulations will
result in net job creation, implementation of the air pollution
regulations will actually require billions of dollars in
compliance costs, resulting in reduced business profits and
millions of actual job losses;
(3)(A) the analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency
of the final rule of the Agency entitled ``National Emission
Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired
Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of
Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-
Commercial-Institutional, and Small Industrial-Commercial-
Institutional Steam Generating Units'' (77 Fed. Reg. 9304 (Feb.
16, 2012)) estimated that implementation of the final rule
would result in the creation of 46,000 temporary construction
jobs and 8,000 net new permanent jobs; but
(B) a private study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting,
using a ``whole economy'' model, estimated that implementation
of the final rule described in subparagraph (A) would result in
a negative impact on the income of workers in an amount
equivalent to 180,000 to 215,000 lost jobs in 2015 and 50,000
to 85,000 lost jobs each year thereafter;
(4)(A) the analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency
of the final rule of the Agency entitled ``Federal
Implementation Plans: Interstate Transport of Fine Particulate
Matter and Ozone and Correction of SIP Approvals'' (76 Fed.
Reg. 48208 (Aug. 8, 2011)) estimated that implementation of the
final rule would result in the creation of 700 jobs per year;
but
(B) a private study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting
estimated that implementation of the final rule described in
subparagraph (A) would result in the elimination of a total of
34,000 jobs during the period beginning in calendar year 2013
and ending in calendar year 2037;
(5)(A) the analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency
of the final rules of the Agency entitled ``National Emission
Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Major Sources:
Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers and Process
Heaters'' (76 Fed. Reg. 15608 (March 21, 2011)) and ``National
Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Area
Sources: Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers''
(76 Fed. Reg. 15554 (March 21, 2011)) estimated that
implementation of the final rules would result in the creation
of 2,200 jobs per year; but
(B) a private study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting
estimated that implementation of the final rules described in
subparagraph (A) would result in the elimination of 28,000 jobs
per year during the period beginning in calendar year 2013 and
ending in calendar year 2037;
(6) implementation of certain air pollution rules of the
Environmental Protection Agency that have not been reviewed,
updated, or finalized as of the date of enactment of this Act,
such as regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and the update
or review of national ambient air quality standards, are
predicted to result in significant and negative employment
impacts, but the Agency has not yet fully studied or disclosed
the full impacts of existing Agency regulations;
(7) in reviewing, developing, or updating any regulations
promulgated under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.)
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Environmental
Protection Agency must be required to accurately disclose the
adverse impact the existing regulations of the Agency will have
on jobs and employment levels across the economy in the United
States and disclose those impacts to the American people before
issuing a final rule; and
(8) although since 1977, section 321(a) of the Clean Air
Act (42 U.S.C. 7621(a)) has required the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency to ``conduct continuing
evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment which may
result from the administration or enforcement of the provision
of [the Clean Air Act] and applicable implementation plans,
including where appropriate, investigating threatened plant
closures or reductions in employment allegedly resulting from
such administration or enforcement'', the Environmental
Protection Agency has failed to undertake that analysis or
conduct a comprehensive study that considers the impact of
programs carried out under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et
seq.) on jobs and changes in employment.
(b) Prohibition.--The Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency shall not propose or finalize any major rule (as defined in
section 804 of title 5, United States Code) under the Clean Air Act (42
U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) until after the date on which the Administrator--
(1) completes an economy-wide analysis capturing the costs
and cascading effects across industry sectors and markets in
the United States of the implementation of major rules
promulgated under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.);
and
(2) establishes a process to update that analysis not less
frequently than semiannually, so as to provide for the
continuing evaluation of potential loss or shifts in
employment, pursuant to section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act (42
U.S.C. 7621(a)), that may result from the implementation of
major rules under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.).
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Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
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