US Chamber of Commerce makes clear where it stands

The headline yesterday said "Chamber's Donohue Says Obama's Rules Suffocating U.S.".

It's an interesting word choice, since one of the highlighted regulations is a tightening of the ground level ozone standard. High in the stratosphere, ozone is our main natural UV protection. At ground level it causes asthma and other respiratory problems. From the EPA's summary: "The proposal to strengthen the primary standard places more weight on key scientific and technical information, including epidemiological studies, human clinical studies showing effects in healthy adults at 0.060 ppm, and results of EPA’s exposure and risk assessment."

Another highlighted Chamber complaint is about tighter regulation of cement plants. Here's the EPA's news release on the regulation: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing final rules that will protect Americans’ health by cutting emissions of mercury, particle pollution and other harmful pollutants from Portland cement manufacturing, the third-largest source of mercury air emissions in the United States. The rules are expected to yield $7 to $19 in public health benefits for every dollar in costs. Mercury can damage children’s developing brains, and particle pollution is linked to a wide variety of serious health effects, including aggravated asthma, irregular heartbeat, heart attacks, and premature death in people with heart and lung disease."

So there's your US Chamber of Commerce: fighting the good fight for more asthma, heart attacks and brain damage.