Aug 29, 2023 2 min read

New EPA rules would be costly

A new proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will interfere with high-priority efforts to improve our environment, while inflicting a lasting price hike on American families and businesses still suffering through stubborn inflation and high interest rates – after they’re finally starting to enjoy some relief from the high energy prices of 2021-22.

The proposed rules to cut methane emissions from natural gas and oil production are well-intentioned because of their goal to improve the environment, on which we all agree and in which the U.S. has led the world for decades. However, how we get there is important, and the U.S. has always solved its toughest problems through private-sector innovation and government collaboration.

Left unchanged, the rules would eliminate effective technological solutions, create unrealistic and expensive timelines, and improperly delegate the EPA’s enforcement power to private third parties. Those would include many activists and organizations with zero expertise but plenty of motive, means and opportunity to interfere with American energy production and security, which could further lead to grid instability.

Anything that needlessly restricts energy supply risks higher prices and pressures on an economy clouded by recession fears. The last thing Pennsylvania needs is a self-inflicted energy price hike that will get in the way of innovations and more efficient options to meet the goal of this regulation – a cleaner environment.

There is a better way to do it that leverages the best of what our nation has to offer without increasing costs, while ensuring that America’s environmental standards remains the world’s gold standard.

Kurt Knaus

Harrisburg

Kurt Knaus is a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance, a coalition of more than 30 chambers, unions, and conservation organizations.