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API launches major advertising campaign addressing proposed ozone regulations

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2015 – API will launch a major new television, radio, print, and online advertising campaign Friday to urge the Obama administration to keep the current ozone standards rather than implementing new ones. The current standards – set in 2008 – are the strictest ever imposed and have yet to be fully implemented, API Senior Director of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Howard Feldman told reporters in a conference call.

“Safeguarding public health is a goal we all share, and peer reviewed science confirms that current standards protect public health and the environment,” Feldman said. “The nation’s air is getting cleaner and will continue to improve as we implement the existing standards. Further tightening of the standards wouldn’t necessarily improve air quality any faster, but it could significantly impact U.S. jobs and the economy.

A new standard in the range of 65 to 70 parts per billion could be the costliest regulation ever imposed on the American public, according to a report by NERA Economic Consulting. Lowering the standard to 60 ppb, which the EPA is taking comment on and could promulgate, could cost our economy $270 billion per year and place millions of jobs at risk.

“As proposed, the new standard could impose unachievable emission reduction requirements on virtually every part of the nation, including rural and undeveloped areas,” Feldman said. “States would have to place new restrictions on businesses of all sizes and add additional bureaucratic red tape to the permitting process for public works projects. These new rules could also prevent communities from improving their infrastructure such as highways or waste treatment facilities.”

API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API’s more than 625 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms. They provide most of the nation’s energy and are backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 25 million Americans.