Gibbs: Protecting local jobs from EPA bureaucrats
WASHINGTON, DC – The House voted today to protect thousands of jobs in the brick manufacturing and sales industry against burdensome Environmental Protection Agency regulations while those rules are currently challenged in court. H.R. 4557, the Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns (BRICK) Act, will require the EPA to pause the implementation and enforcement of emissions standards that will negatively impact stakeholders in the brick industry, many of which are small, family-owned businesses.
Similar rules were implemented in 2003 and vacated by a U.S. Court of Appeals in 2007. Yet by the time the rule was vacated, the industry already spent $100 million to comply. The onerous regulations announced last year effectively render the previous improvements obsolete.
Following the vote, Congressman Bob Gibbs released the following statement:
“With today’s vote on the BRICK Act, the House is protecting family-owned businesses under assault from a federal bureaucracy that is out of control. These rules will harm workers and raise the cost of goods for consumers. Similar regulations were overturned previously and the most recent rules should not be implemented until all court actions have concluded. This legislation is critical to the many brick industry jobs in the Seventh District and I thank my colleagues for standing up to support this bipartisan bill.”
Category: Government
