I'm almost certainly not the intended audience for the EPA's press release, but it's remarkable how many of these bullet points read like "Remove the ban on orphan burning machines to ensure American small businesses have access to alternative heat sources".
You might think I'm exaggerating, but here are a few real bullets from their list:
> Reconsideration of Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards that shut down opportunities for American manufacturing and small businesses (PM 2.5 NAAQS)
Opportunities for them to decrease air quality?
> Restructuring the Regional Haze Program that threatened the supply of affordable energy for American families (Regional Haze)
Definitely looking forward to some more regional haze
> Reconsideration of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that improperly targeted coal-fired power plants (MATS)
Who doesn't love mercury and other toxins in their air?
> Reconsideration of wastewater regulations for coal power plants to help unleash American energy (Oil and Gas ELG)
Presumably unleashing it directly into our water supply
Obviously the wishy-washy wording in each of these bullets (reconsider, restructure, etc) leaves a lot of leeway for how much actual change will happen. But it's pretty remarkable to me that the premise is getting rid of wasteful, unnecessary regulation but the actual topics are things like unhealthy particulate matter and toxins in the air or coal plant waste in the water. Where to draw the line can and should be a topic of reasonable debate, but one would think any effort to move the line towards "more stuff in your air and water" would take a more tactful approach.
Tangential to the press release itself, but it's a very interesting note on coordinated messaging that the phrase "Biden-Harris administration" still remains ubiquitous among Republican sources despite being a relatively uncommon way to refer to past Presidential administrations and something that came up basically out of nowhere last year when Biden stepped aside and Harris became the nominee. There's clearly a style guide and man are they sticking to it.
I’ve read that due to the abundance of natural gas, it’s simply not economical for companies to mine for coal or burn it. So I doubt many companies will be firing up new coal plants.
But then again, was that mainly because of regulations?
Coal is a bit of a side issue here, sure - it's not as economical in the US as it once was and is dying off in any case. This deregulation will extend the runtime of existing coal fired power as the regulations requiring rolling increases to carbon storage over time for coal power are being removed.
However regular oil and gas, which is expanding, is also having clean air regulations torn up:
* Reconsideration of regulations throttling the oil and gas industry
* Reconsideration of mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that imposed significant costs on the American energy supply (GHG Reporting Program)
* Reconsideration of Biden-Harris Administration Risk Management Program rule that made America’s oil and natural gas refineries and chemical facilities less safe (Risk Management Program Rule)
The first two allow for greater emissions during extraction and no requirement to record or report.
The third I threw in to highlight what appears to be fairly loaded language .. rolling back a Risk Management Program that made refineries less safe ?
That sounds like a strong opinion held by some refinery owners that really wanted a program tanked. I admit to not having looked into the details, but that does raise an eyebrow.
You might think I'm exaggerating, but here are a few real bullets from their list:
> Reconsideration of Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards that shut down opportunities for American manufacturing and small businesses (PM 2.5 NAAQS)
Opportunities for them to decrease air quality?
> Restructuring the Regional Haze Program that threatened the supply of affordable energy for American families (Regional Haze)
Definitely looking forward to some more regional haze
> Reconsideration of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that improperly targeted coal-fired power plants (MATS)
Who doesn't love mercury and other toxins in their air?
> Reconsideration of wastewater regulations for coal power plants to help unleash American energy (Oil and Gas ELG)
Presumably unleashing it directly into our water supply
Obviously the wishy-washy wording in each of these bullets (reconsider, restructure, etc) leaves a lot of leeway for how much actual change will happen. But it's pretty remarkable to me that the premise is getting rid of wasteful, unnecessary regulation but the actual topics are things like unhealthy particulate matter and toxins in the air or coal plant waste in the water. Where to draw the line can and should be a topic of reasonable debate, but one would think any effort to move the line towards "more stuff in your air and water" would take a more tactful approach.
Tangential to the press release itself, but it's a very interesting note on coordinated messaging that the phrase "Biden-Harris administration" still remains ubiquitous among Republican sources despite being a relatively uncommon way to refer to past Presidential administrations and something that came up basically out of nowhere last year when Biden stepped aside and Harris became the nominee. There's clearly a style guide and man are they sticking to it.