New environmental regulations threaten Illinois jobs

A new report from George Mason University ranks Illinois dead last among the 50 states for fiscal health. Unfortunately, the ranking is not surprising. The Land of Lincoln has lost over 10,000 manufacturing jobs since 2012.

Many of those positions paid well, helping many workers across the state support their families.

Job losses in Illinois could soon get much worse thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA just finalized a sweeping new regulation on ozone gases. It's expected to cost Illinois thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost economic activity.

The new rules will ratchet back the allowable amount of ozone gasses in the air near the Earth's surface.

Ozone can cause serious respiratory issues.

Some people are old enough to remember firsthand the “smog” settling in over American cities in the 1970s and 1980s. A big part of that problem was ozone.

But here's the thing: Existing EPA regulations were working just fine.

Between 2000 and 2013, low-level ozone dropped 18 percent, according to the EPA's own figures.

Of course, there's still work to do. But the EPA's top priority should have been getting the nation more fully into compliance with its ambitious 2008 standard rather than tightening the rules further.

That's especially true in light of how much the United States has struggled to reach this standard.

As many as 122 million Americans currently live in areas that do not meet the 2008 regulation. In Illinois, 11 of our 102 counties, mostly around Chicago, aren't there yet.

The vast majority of the nation will be unable to meet this new, hyper-stringent standard.

The cost of noncompliance will be astronomical.

Under previous standards, factories in noncompliant areas saw their productivity decline by almost five percent. Workers saw their paychecks slashed by 20 percent.

Compliance will also strangle economic growth, especially in the energy industry.

Power plants and factories now have to fork over tens of millions to install the rule's required chemical-filtering devices.

Firms will be more reluctant to expand. Some will be forced to shut down existing operations and lay off staff.

Workers all across the state will be deprived of those desperately needed opportunities to secure sturdy employment and provide for their families.

Nationwide, there would be a similar story. We can expect less growth, less investment, less infrastructure building, and fewer jobs

Illinois needs to continue to create well-paid, skilled craft jobs that can support families. And we also need to keep the air clean and free of dangerous pollutants.

The EPA's new ozone rule fails that balancing act. It's overly severe, and now, hardworking Illinoisans will suffer.

Emily Zanotti, a resident of Chicago, is digital editor at The American Spectator and a researcher at The Heartland Institute