EPA Proposes More Financial Pain for Families, Churches
- Nov 18, 2008 - 1
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering hampering families, businesses, and even churches with restrictions on carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions. This would drive up energy costs for all sectors of society, triggering more economic pain for Americans who are already pinching pennies to heat and cool their homes, put food on the table, and stay clothed and in reliable transportation.
How far could these regulations stretch? The EPA stated bluntly that they “could result in an unprecedented expansion of EPA authority that would have a profound effect on virtually every sector of the economy and touch every household in the land.” Put simply, in one form or another, no man, woman, child, business, industry, or church would escape the reach of its tentacles.
The EPA bases its authority to wreak this devastation on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA that the Clean Air Act frees the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions because they meet the definition of air pollutant. The EPA, which has not yet acted, announced in July its considerations under what is known as an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). Public comments are welcomed through Nov. 28.
For starters, any source emitting 250 tons per year of CO2 would be subject to the EPA’s regulations. That seemingly enormous figure is, in reality, a low threshold surpassed easily by many businesses and churches. To put this in perspective, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that more than a million businesses would be hit. The domino effect could be tragic for employment, especially jobs held by lower-income Americans in manufacturing, physical labor, or energy.
Just as alarming, an estimated 10 percent of the nation’s churches and religious buildings would be affected. In addition to facing higher costs, those churches affected would have to comply with bureaucratic regulations and could be penalized for errors in documenting or reporting. On top of this, across-the-board consumer hits could result in slowed giving, causing churches to scale back programs and missions.
The EPA says its regulations could even extend to everyday items such as lawnmowers and string trimmers, as well as recreational vehicles such as ATVs, boats, and snowmobiles.
For all this economic pain, little environmental benefit is expected in return. Developing nations, many of which are among the world’s leading greenhouse gas emitters, would offset any greenhouse gas reductions achieved by the U.S. Any potential reduction would be slight and not worth the severe financial and social hardships that would have to be endured.
It seems foolhardy to even consider plans that would further weaken a shaky economy. If you share the ERLC’s concern about this looming regulatory and financial storm upon families and churches, we strongly encourage you to share your concerns with the EPA.
It’s very simple. In fact, the EPA is asking for public comments. Visit www.regulations.gov, enter “EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0318-0117” in the search box, and hit “go.” Then click “Send a comment or submission.” You will then be able to enter your own comments. We have provided a sample comment to help you write yours. Or, if you prefer, you can simply submit our sample comment as your own by copying all or part of our sample comment and pasting it in the EPA comment box.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Science, Environment
1 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Nov 21st, 2008, at 8:09pm, eric wrote:
And your solution to the problem is .....?
Ignore it?
Deny it exists?
Blame it on liberal Democrats?
How do you choose to deal with the hardships brought upon the nation by continued climate change?
Doing nothing is NOT an option!