WASHINGTON, June 20, 2013 – Although EPA’s proposed Tier 3 gasoline sulfur rule could cost billions, a new study from ENVIRON International Corporation found that it would do very little to reduce fine particulates and improve air quality, API Director for Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Howard Feldman told reporters this afternoon:

“The proposed Tier 3 regulation is a good example of the theory of diminishing returns. The fact is, most of the sulfur in gasoline has been already been removed, thanks to the Tier 2 rules that reduce sulfur in gasoline by 90 percent from an average of 300 parts per million to 30 parts per million.

“Unfortunately, Tier 3 is just one of several ill-conceived EPA regulations that would adversely impact refineries and could hurt consumers. Together, these rules could not only put upward pressure on energy prices, they also could severely discourage business expansion and new development and deprive the nation of much-needed new jobs.

“EPA’s regulatory agenda is becoming dangerously untethered from common sense. EPA’s refusal to be guided by science has meant that many of its proposed regulations have become needless obstacles to economic recovery and growth, and in the long-term will be a threat to our nation’s reemergence as a global energy leader. Most troubling, it is harming the American consumer, the very group that it was created to protect.

“EPA has an important public trust to keep: protecting the environment. We understand that, and we understand the need to have regulations. Over the years, we have spent bazillions complying with them, and there have been some real environmental improvements. But the agency also has a duty and responsibility to be guided by common sense and science, not ideology. Lately EPA has not lived up to that responsibility. We need an EPA that understands the needs of the environment and the American consumer.”

API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 500 members – including large integrated companies, exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms – provide most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $85 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.