The Environmental Protection Agency released a new limit for smog-causing emissions, which some say is too harsh on businesses and others say isn't strict enough.
Last Thursday, the Obama administration unveiled a major new regulation on smog-causing emissions that may be costly for small business.
The Environmental Protection Agency set the new national standard for ozone, a smog-causing gas that often forms when chemical emissions from power plants, factories and vehicles mix in the air, at 70 parts per billion, tightening the standard of 75 parts per billion set in 2008.
RELATED: Learn more about how EPA policy impacts your small business.
The smog rule is the latest in a string of major new Clean Air Act pollution regulations. While the ruling is viewed as a compromise between businesses and environmentalists, neither seems to be satisfied. Business owners fear the regulation’s approval because they will face rising costs associated with limiting emissions, whereas environmentalists believe the Obama administration should be even stricter and see the new rule as “heart failure.”
The EPA estimated that the annual cost to the economy would be $1.4 billion, making it one of the most expensive regulations in history. But it said those costs would be vastly outweighed by annual economic benefits of $2.9 billion to $5.9 billion because of fewer premature deaths, missed days of school and work, asthma attacks and emergency room visits.
