U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) called for support for legislation on Thursday that would prevent the implementation of an EPA rule targeting brick manufacturers until legal challenges are resolved.
The EPA finalized a rule in September that established new emission standards for mercury and non-mercury air pollutants resulting from the brick manufacturing process.
In response, the House of Representatives approved the Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns (BRICK) Act, H.R.4557, which would halt implementation of the rule pending legal challenges.
“This is really part of a bigger debate,” Shimkus said on the House floor. “What the EPA likes to do is put out a regulation and play this game. They say: We will impose the regulation, we know it’s not legal, but we’re going to force industry to comply. And then when the courts say it’s not legal, businesses have already gone too far and the jobs have been lost.”
The EPA estimates that the rule’s compliance costs will total $25 million per year, but the brick manufacturing industry estimates that compliance costs could reach $100 million per year.
Shimkus said that the EPA promulgated the first version of the rule, known as the Brick MACT rule, in 2003.
“The rule was vacated by the federal court in 2007,” Shimkus said. “Vacated, which means you can’t do it. But the industry already was forced to spend millions and millions of dollars to comply.”