During a hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Mullin spoke against the EPA’s regulations on ozone, a gas that is created by chemical reactions, either as a result of human activity or through natural sources.In 2008, the EPA revised an air quality regulation and made changes to county-by-county ozone standards. The final regulation was published in March 2015, and required Okmulgee County to reach an ozone standard of 75 parts per billion (ppb); which means that for every 1 billion parts of air, there can only be 75 parts of ozone.
In October 2015, the EPA again revised the ozone standard to 65-70 ppb.
“The EPA never gave our counties a chance to meet its initial ozone standard,” Mullin said. “Now the agency wants to penalize our state and place ridiculous requirements on our counties. I’m not going to let that happen.”
Counties that are not in compliance with the new ozone standard will be subject to costly restrictions. Many counties in the Second Congressional District of Oklahoma are in danger of not meeting the 65-70 ppb standard.
As of August 2015, the National Association of Manufacturers estimated that the EPA’s ozone standard would cost the state of Oklahoma over 35,000 jobs, $35 billion in total compliance costs, and an additional $3 billion for residents to own and operate their vehicles state wide from 2017 to 2040.
Mullin is fighting for a bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee that protects the entire state of Oklahoma from the EPA’s costly ozone standard.
The Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016 (H.R. 4775) would give Oklahoma the flexibility it needs to implement the EPA’s ozone standard in a way that is practical and cost-effective. The bill gives Oklahoma until 2025 to start phasing in both the 2008 and 2015 standards. This timeline would prevent the EPA from placing harmful restrictions on Okmulgee County.
“We have national parks that won’t even be able to meet this new standard,” Mullin added. “Places like the Grand Canyon, and Joshua Tree and Sequoia National Parks aren’t in compliance. This shows you just how ridiculous the EPA’s standard is.”
H.R. 4775 must be approved by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce before it is considered by the full House of Representatives.
