Obama Withdraws Environmental Rules, Citing Business Burden

Code:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/obama-withdraws-environmental-rules-citing-business-burden/

President Obama told the EPA today to withdraw proposed air quality legislation, citing the need to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses as the economy continues to recover. The decision comes after Republicans and business groups lobbied hard against the proposed regulation. However, the White House maintains the move had nothing to do with politics.

Republicans in the House had made standing in the way of the regulation a top legislative priority and billed it as a cornerstone of their jobs plan, claiming the new standards would burden businesses and hinder job growth.

In a letter last week, Speaker of the House John Boehner accused the president of being disingenuous on regulatory burdens and asked him to identify pending rules with an economic impact over $1 billion. While Obama later refuted the Speaker’s claim that more than 200 proposed regulations would saddle American businesses with billions in new costs, the White House did provide a list of seven rules with estimated price tags over $1 billion. At the top of that list was the proposed ozone standard that the EPA agreed to withdraw today.

The regulation would have imposed a stricter ozone standard, thus requiring companies and counties across the country to enact changes in order to continue to comply with the Clean Air act. Now instead the more lenient standards set by the Bush administration in 2008 will remain in place until pollution limits are reconsidered in 2013.

Today the Speaker’s office took credit for prompting the White House to take action. “This is certainly a good first step, and we’re glad that the White House responded to the Speaker’s letter and recognized the job-killing impact of this particular regulation. But it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stopping Washington Democrats’ agenda of tax hikes, more government ‘stimulus’ spending, and increased regulations – which are all making it harder to create more American jobs,” a Boehner spokesman said.

Cookie Parker wrote:Obama is a pro-business President.