EPA rule will be costly for Oklahoma, U.S. Chamber study says

From Jay Marks’ article in The Oklahoman:

“Despite all the publicity for other regulations, one of EPA’s more dubious, and arguably illegal regulatory efforts remains below the radar to many: the regional haze rule,” study author William Yeatman said. “EPA is now implementing a program that tramples over states’ authority. In the long term, EPA’s abuse of its regional haze authority could present a persistent problem for all states.

“With the EPA poised to impose similar constraints on several other states in the immediate future, it’s clear that no state is immune from having its rightful regional haze authority trumped by EPA at profound costs for virtually nonexistent benefits.”

Yeatman’s study contends the federal Clean Air Act directs states to weigh costs against visibility benefits in deciding how to address regional haze.

“Accordingly, Oklahoma declined to impose the most expensive sulfur dioxide controls on six power plants subject to regional haze requirements, because the capital costs — almost $1.8 billion — were deemed unreasonable in light of the imperceptible benefits,” the report states.

The report includes two seemingly identical photographs of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge: one with the state’s emissions controls and one with the EPA’s controls.