"Industry Accused of Exaggerating Impact of EPA's Boiler Rules"

"One day after U.S. EPA asked for more time to issue controversial limits on air pollution from industrial boilers, an influential advocacy group for state and local regulators today urged the agency not to be swayed by 'total hyperbole' from industry.

The National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) released its analysis of a study by the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners (CIBO), which has argued that EPA's draft rules would have far greater economic impacts than the agency had predicted. EPA's proposal, which was released in April, has been widely condemned by paper mills, chemical companies and other businesses that use boilers for power.

According to the CIBO study, complying with the draft rules would cost about $20 billion -- twice as much as EPA has projected. And while EPA predicted that about 8,000 jobs would be lost because of the limits on mercury, dioxins and other types of toxic pollution, CIBO had said that about 16,000 jobs would be threatened for every $1 billion spent on compliance with the analysis.

But according to the analysis by NACAA, the industry-funded study ignored the jobs that would be created by the regulations. While companies would need to spend billions of dollars on new pollution controls, perhaps leading some facilities to close down or scale back their operations, the upgrades also would require companies to hire thousands of employees to install, operate and maintain the equipment."

Gabriel Nelson reports for Greenwire December 8, 2010.