Shelby seeks to slash EPA budget, block ‘egregious rules that stifle job creation’

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June 18, 2015

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, of which Alabama Senator Richard Shelby is a senior member, passed the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill Thursday morning, slashing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget for 2016.

“The actions by the Obama Administration’s EPA are the face of executive overreach, and I am pleased that this bill seeks to rein in this out-of-control government agency,” said Senator Shelby after the committee approved the appropriations bill. “Not only does this bill cut the EPA’s budget by $500 million, it also seeks to block some of its most egregious and costly rules that stifle economic growth and job creation in Alabama.”

In addition to cutting the EPA’s $7.89 billion budget, the bill would prohibit the agency from forcing federal plans on states that do not support the Obama Administration’s greenhouse gas regulations, as well as stopping the bureaucracy’s rule redefining ‘waters of the United States,’ which opponents say will place thousands of streams, creeks, wetlands, ponds, and ditches throughout the country under the control of Washington bureaucrats instead of private property owners.

Also included in the bill is a measure that would halt the EPA’s plan to lower the acceptable amount of surface-level ozone. Congressman Gary Palmer slammed the proposed rule during a hearing in March for relying on “imaginary technology.”

“The EPA has not been able to identify how the proposed standards will be met,” he said. “This sounds like ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ rule-making.”

The EPA’s proposed regulations would impose a limit of 65-70 parts per billion (ppb) for ozone, down from the current accepted level of 75 ppb. While that may seem like an arbitrary decrease, it is estimated that the more stringent standards would cost American businesses between $4 billion and $15 billion by 2025.

With Democrats already threatening to block the Defense appropriations bill, the cuts and limits to the EPA included in this legislation is sure to further incense those on the left who want to stop Republicans from rolling back some of the regulations introduced in the last 6 years of the Obama presidency.