WASHINGTON – American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Donna Harman released the following statement today following the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) release of its final National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM).
“We are disappointed that EPA chose to lower the annual PM standard, imposing burdensome new restrictions on economic growth and ignoring the significant uncertainty in the underlying science. This lower annual PM standard means that businesses seeking air quality permits to construct new equipment or modify existing plants even in rural areas will find it very difficult to model compliance. We are concerned that manufacturing facilities may be forced to look at pollution controls that are technically infeasible or cost prohibitive, preventing expanded production and job growth. In setting this new PM NAAQS standard, EPA apparently relied on a few selected studies to support their hypothesis of health effects resulting from PM exposure, while discounting studies that showed no association.
“This is yet another example of where regulation by consent decree creates costly rules with huge scientific uncertainty and, in this case, at a time when the economy is struggling.”
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The American Forest & Paper Association is the national trade association of the forest products industry, representing pulp, paper, packaging and wood products manufacturers, and forest landowners. Our companies make products essential for everyday life from renewable and recyclable resources that sustain the environment. The forest products industry accounts for approximately 5 percent of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP. Industry companies produce about $190 billion in products annually and employ nearly 900,000 men and women, exceeding employment levels in the automotive, chemicals and plastics industries. The industry meets a payroll of approximately $50 billion annually and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 47 states. Visit AF&PA online at www.afandpa.org.