New TV ad in Nevada attacks proposed pollution regulations

By Kyle Roerink

Monday, Sept. 14, 2015 | 2:57 p.m.

A new TV ad attacking President Barack Obama’s proposal to reduce ozone pollution will launch Tuesday in Nevada.

The ad, sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers, cites a NASA study that blames emissions from China for air pollution in U.S. states in the West and urges the Environmental Protection Agency and Obama to refrain from tightening restrictions on air pollution.

The ad criticizes the proposed rules as an overreach impacting a region that has cut emissions by 20 percent from 2005 to 2010.

“Now Washington wants to impose more restrictive ozone laws on our communities,” the ad says. “These rules won’t hurt China. But they could cost the country more than a trillion dollars and kill more than a million jobs per year.”

The smog-cutting regulations could take effect by Oct. 1 and are among the most controversial air-pollution policies released under Obama’s administration. The EPA last imposed new air-quality rules in 2008.

Nevada skeptics include Gov. Brian Sandoval, the Nevada Mining Association and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.

Western states will need EPA guidance and financial help to implement the new rules, Sandoval said in public comment to the EPA.

The “direct and indirect costs associated with lowering the [emissions] raises questions about the necessity of lowering the standard in light of other, perhaps more dire and immediate problems we face as a society, such as poverty, unemployment and staggering debt,” Sandoval wrote as chairman of the Western Governors’ Association.

Ozone is a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, and the EPA is hoping new regulations will force states to reduce their consumption.

The EPA estimates the annual cost of implementing the rules would be $16.6 billion, while the health benefits from reduced respiratory illnesses would be worth up to $38 billion, according to The Hill newspaper.

The Sierra Club offered its support last week.

“For far too long, American families have paid the price for an outdated smog standard that is much too weak to protect our health,” Mary Anne Hitt, director of the group’s Beyond Coal campaign, said in a statement.