Congress sends Trump a resolution ending Biden-era emissions cleanup rule

DETROIT AP Congress has voted to kill a Biden-era rule requiring rubber tire makers to clean up planet-warming emissions from their manufacturing processes in the U S The Environmental Protection Agency finalized rules for the rubber tire industry specifically previously unregulated rubber processing last November through amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants Tires are made of chemicals compounds and materials that release greenhouse gases heavy metals and volatile organic compounds experts say Republican Virginia Congressman Morgan Griffith alongside South Carolina Sen Tim Scott and Mississippi Sen Roger Wicker also Republicans introduced a resolution to undo the rules earlier this year and it advanced through the Congressional Review Act which allows Congress to reverse lately adopted federal agency rules with a simple majority vote in each chamber The vote passed in the House on March and the Senate on Tuesday The measure heads to the president s desk for signing next Like numerous of the regulations issued during the waning days of the Biden-Harris Administration the rubber tire manufacturing emission standard utilized questionable emissions information and pointed to negligible medical benefits as justification for the rule Griffith reported in a report Tuesday He disclosed the rule did not serve residents robustness The standards regulate other so-called source categories including asbestos asphalt roofing processing and manufacturing dry cleaning petroleum refineries other chemical production and processes and more which in addition to the environmental concerns can cause cancer and other serious fitness problems according to the EPA The rubber rule resulted from a court decision that required the EPA to address unregulated emissions from source categories upon the agency s equipment reviews as required by the Clean Air Act Plaintiffs in the affair included the Louisiana Environmental Action Organization a nonprofit organization representing communities located near historically dirty air Another occurrence led by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League based in South Carolina also called out the EPA for missing sources of HAPs and disclosed it did not set rules in a timely manner Aimed at meeting Clean Air Act requirements the EPA stated at the time that the rubber rule changes would cut total hydrocarbons and filterable particulate matter or solids that can be captured on a filter known as fPM emissions by approximately tons per year Scott previously revealed the rule was a last-minute Biden EPA regulation that was based on questionable facts and imposes onerous one-size-fits-all waste controls Industry stakeholders have argued that tire factories would be required to install costly regenerative thermal oxidizers new air litter control equipment that destroys HAPs and VOCs that would increase carbon emissions and because of the expense harm American manufacturing jobs The nation is home to major tire makers including Michelin North America headquartered in Greenville South Carolina and Goodyear in Akron Ohio The two companies did not without delay respond to requests for comment The measure marks the latest of this administration s efforts to deregulate industry in the name of bolstering American manufacturing The EPA first explained it would reconsider National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants regulations for rubber tire manufacturing and other notable industries as part of a -action deregulation blitz reported on March Republicans have generally been using the Congressional Review Act to wage an assault on the previous administration s several efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions In a declaration to The Associated Press the EPA revealed Once a law EPA will work expeditiously to rescind the overly burdensome rule noting agency Administrator Lee Zeldin s modern efforts speaking specifically with the South Carolina manufacturing industry on issues such as this one The U S Tire Manufacturers Association noted the vote reduces financial burdens on tire manufacturing facilities Tire manufacturers have long understood and complied with existing standards Anne Forristall Luke president and CEO of the industry group declared in a comment To the group the November rule creates an adverse environmental impact while imposing essential financial burdens on tire manufacturing facilities and providing negligible if any benefits But Sen Sheldon Whitehouse a Democrat from Rhode Island called the measure yet another of numerous attempts to unravel protections for human soundness and the setting and part of an endless quest to accommodate the countries biggest polluters Ahead of Tuesday s vote Whitehouse noted on the Senate floor that the resolution would deny clean air protections to the American people with particular harm to American children whose lungs and brains still emerging are the bulk vulnerable to the effects of these pollutants Read more of AP s atmosphere coverage at http www apnews com climate-and-environment Alexa St John is an Associated Press weather reporter Follow her on X alexa stjohn Reach her at ast john ap org The Associated Press conditions and environmental coverage receives financial endorsement from multiple private foundations AP is solely responsible for all content Find AP s standards for working with philanthropies a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP org Source