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The Biden administration's armies of climate activists need to take a deep breath. Seriously, breathe some of the cleanest air in American history.
After decades of improvements in technology and collaboration, our nation's air quality is at its best on record. In fact, our strict air quality standards far exceed those of Western Europe.
Unfortunately for hard-working Americans, the best is not good enough for President Joe Biden and his base. His radical green agenda has always been more about promoting a political worldview than about protecting our health and environment.
BIDEN ADMIN ALLOCATES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR CLIMATE PROGRAMS AT BORDERS AMID THE CURRENT MIGRANT CRISIS
The EPA recently released aggressive new air quality standards, the latest punitive attempt to impose the Green New Deal on working families by executive order. The new rule requires a multimillion-dollar cudgel to regulate the particles, which are more than 20 times smaller than a single human hair.
Our nation's air quality is excellent and that means families can get out and enjoy it, especially in the spring. But Biden will continue to punish citizens to make the air cleaner. (iStock)
The result would be widespread devastation. Good luck trying to obtain a permit to build a new power plant or manufacturing facility almost anywhere in the United States. This rule practically begs employers to take jobs and investments overseas, to countries with less stringent airline standards.
Construction of new roads and bridges would come to a halt. Small businesses and farmers would be forced to purchase new, expensive equipment. Families already struggling with historic inflation would see their utility bills rise and jobs move overseas. In total, experts estimate that this single rule could cost the economy $200 billion and 1 million jobs by 2031.
Along with West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, our office is leading a coalition of 24 state attorneys general to challenge the EPA's outrageous and out-of-touch new rule. We are fighting an EPA that has far exceeded its legal mandate and has lost all touch with reality. The agency's constant push for newer, more aggressive green policies ignores scientific reality and makes it impossible for companies to plan for the future.
The current guidelines, called the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), were approved during the Obama administration and maintained by President Donald Trump. They represent some of the strictest standards in the world: stricter than those of the European Union and much stricter than those of the world's worst polluters: China, India and Indonesia. And they work. Air quality has steadily improved here over the past 20 years.
Although the EPA paints an optimistic picture about how it will force states and localities to comply with the new standards, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that up to 30% of counties nationwide will not comply with the new standard. . Falling out of favor with the EPA will force everyone from major manufacturers to local restaurants to endure endless red tape from government bureaucracy at its worst.
One of Kentucky's greatest competitive advantages is our reliable, low-cost energy. This rule is a serious threat to our abundant fossil fuel resources and would overload our electric grid with expensive and unproven energy sources. Once again, coastal elites are imposing rules that make it impossible for middle America to prosper.
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This is the truth that environmentalists don't want you to know. Only 16% of all particles come from power generation or other industrial activities. The main drivers are wildfires, road dust and other non-industrial sources. Would it really make sense for last year's wildfires in Canada to paralyze economic activity across the United States, undermining countless jobs along the way?
The new EPA standard is the spearhead of a radical green agenda that pleases activists and leaves the rest of us to pick up the pieces.
Along with West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, our office is leading a coalition of 24 state attorneys general to challenge the EPA's outrageous and out-of-touch new rule. We are fighting an EPA that has far exceeded its legal mandate and has lost all touch with reality.
Instead of using the full resources of federal power to promote an out-of-touch green ideology, we encourage Biden to join with state attorneys general to address the problems that keep families up at night.
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We can secure the border and stop the flood of deadly fentanyl into our communities. We can take seriously the rise in violent crime that affects families from our largest cities to our most rural counties. We can respond strongly to increases in organized crime in retail, vehicle thefts and more.
We, too, care deeply about being good stewards of our air, land, and water for future generations, but on behalf of the families we are sworn to protect, we are taking the EPA to court to stop this madness. If only President Biden would take a deep breath, we could collaborate on what really matters.
