Chicken Little and government regulations: The sky is always falling

Over the last several months, the American Petroleum Institute, among other industry groups, have mounted a full-court press against several Obama administration proposals and initiatives in Congress, including Environmental Protection Administration rules to tighten federal standards for ozone; proposals to eliminate oil industry tax breaks; EPA’s plans  to control greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act; and legislation to lift the cap on company financial liability for cleaning offshore oil spills.

API’s message: The proposals are bad for industry and if they’re bad for industry, they’re bad for America. Tightening the ozone standard would unnecessarily raise the cost of America’s energy, API says. Eliminating industry tax breaks would jeopardize jobs, threaten energy security and limit industry’s ability to produce oil and gas, and possibly send investment out of the country, reduce job creation and economic growth; lifting the liability cap would force most oil and gas companies out of the Gulf of Mexico; and regulating GHGs under the Clean Air Act would be a major threat to the nation’s economic recovery and putting Americans back to work.

Bear in mind that industry has historically, and often reflexively, resisted government regulations as unnecessarily burdensome, at best, or unwarranted, at worst, and seldom in the best interests of the country.

EPA must review federal ozone standards every few years, and it’s instructive to consider the outlandish claims and scare tactics business used in 1997 to rally public opinion against the strict, new standards EPA was proposing at the time.

“From using one’s fireplace and using a power mower to shooting off fireworks and enjoying back-yard barbeques on the Fourth of July, the lifestyle of millions of Americans would be severely impeded by the long and irritating arm of we-know-best government,” Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, wrote in an op-ed piece.

“Imagine that – a new government regulation that takes away or freedom to celebrate our freedom” one radio spot bristled.

“You’ll see strategies directed at voters, like forced carpooling,” another NAM executive warned.

Give Jasinowski his due, despite the nonsense about fireworks and barbecues. Healthy skepticism toward “we-know-best” government is not unreasonable. But business and industry should be held to the same standard.

Platts