President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized an air quality rule that the manufacturing industry is warning could wipe out a million jobs and undermine efforts to construct recent manufacturing facilities in America.
Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), is about to sound the alarm in regards to the regulation in his annual state of producing address on Thursday in Roseville, Michigan, in keeping with an advance copy of his remarks provided to FOX Business.
“In his State of the Union Address next month, President Biden will probably take credit for what manufacturers have achieved. That’s fair. I do know he cares deeply about manufacturing,” Timmons explained. “As he often says on the road, ‘This nation used to guide the world in manufacturing, and we’re going to do it again.’”
“But what he won’t let you know is that his federal agencies are, at this very moment, working to undermine his manufacturing legacy – those agencies are undermining your success. In actual fact, just two weeks ago, they announced one big regulation that would wipe out as much as 1 million jobs,” Timmons warned. “It’s known as National Ambient Air Quality Standards or PM2.5.”
“It’s not the name that matters. It’s the results. It’s stricter than rules they’ve even in Europe. And in vast portions of the country, we’ll barely have the option to construct recent manufacturing facilities consequently,” Timmons added.
The EPA initially proposed the regulation in January 2023 and issued a final version of the rule this yr on Feb. 7. The rule tightens the NAAQS for superb particle pollution or PM2.5, which refers to particulate matter two and a half micrometers or less in diameter, by lowering the air quality standard from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9 micrograms per cubic meter.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in announcing the rule that the “final air quality standard will save lives and make all people healthier, especially inside America’s most vulnerable and overburdened communities.” The EPA says the revision will prevent “as much as 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays, yielding as much as $46 billion in net health advantages in 2032.”
Timmons warned that Michigan – a key swing state with a big manufacturing base – could feel the brunt of the brand new regulation and that the impact on manufacturers will likely be felt throughout the Great Lakes State.
“Michigan could be one among the states hit hardest. And if recent manufacturing investments dry up, that spills over to the remainder of the state economy. It affects the family attempting to sell their home, the teacher hoping for brand new investments in schools, the scholars on the lookout for job opportunities here within the state,” Timmons warned.
“And to what end? You can’t solve the world’s environmental challenges by driving manufacturing investment away from the USA to countries with lower standards,” he added.
Timmons also touted the expansion of the manufacturing industry in recent times and said that artificial intelligence (AI) could drive a recent era of innovation, investment and productivity that bolsters America’s economy through the remainder of this decade and beyond.
“The state of the manufacturing industry is determined by the people in it. And we at the moment are 13 million strong – the biggest in greater than 15 years. If we are able to proceed on this trajectory, this resurgence, imagine what the state of producing might appear to be in 2030 at the top of the last decade,” Timmons explained.
“Artificial intelligence may unlock recent superpowers for American staff. We’d reach some extent where no other country can sustain with our productivity or the pace of innovation. Manufacturing investment could flock to our shores even faster,” he added.
Nevertheless, Timmons warned that burdensome regulations like PM2.5, failing to make legal immigration easier, trade barriers, looming tax hikes and rising geopolitical risks to U.S. national security could dim those prospects.
“That’s the reason I can report that the state of producing in America today stays strong and resilient but under threat,” Timmons explained.