Transportation and Infrastructure

Washington, D.C. – Following the release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent rulemaking regarding limitations on emissions of ethylene oxide, National Association of Manufacturers Managing Vice President of Policy Chris Netram released the following statement:

“While the EPA listened to some of manufacturers’ concerns, such as allowing more time for companies throughout the supply chain to assess the impact on their operations, the rulemaking adds to the ongoing regulatory onslaught our industry has been facing.

“The agency’s decision to maintain the fenceline monitoring schedule at every five days for ethylene oxide creates a significant compliance burden for manufacturers, and the rule’s mandate that operations are completely shut down when small repairs are required will impact manufacturers’ ability to maintain consistent operations. The potential disruption to supply chains could make it more difficult to create jobs in communities across the country.”

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The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs nearly 13 million men and women, contributes $2.89 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 53% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s new heavy-duty tailpipe emissions rule is unrealistic and unfeasible, the NAM said Friday.

What’s going on: “The rule—proposed in April 2023—is part of the ‘Clean Trucks Plan’ unveiled in 2023, which includes light-duty tailpipe and nitrogen oxide rules,” Bloomberg Law (subscription) reports.

• “The[se] ‘Phase 3’ standards build on previous phases of a broader regulatory program to stem greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles such as delivery trucks, long-haulers, and buses.”
• The Phase 1 rule was finalized in 2011, and the Phase 2 rule in 2016.

Why it’s problematic: While the new regulation grants automakers more time for implementation than previous versions did—thanks to input from manufacturers and their advocates, including the NAM—it still “fails to reconcile with the realities of current U.S. infrastructure,” according to an NAM social post.

• “Critical permitting reforms to strengthen transmission systems and a technology-neutral approach for manufacturers are essential to reaching U.S. climate goals,” the NAM wrote.

What should be done: Congress must reform the broken U.S. permitting system so we can build the electric vehicle charging station infrastructure required to implement a rule of this magnitude, the NAM said earlier this month.

The Department of Energy on Monday announced record-setting funding aimed at decarbonizing energy-intensive sectors, POLITICO Pro (subscription) reports.

What’s going on: The nearly $6 billion in “funding from the Democrats’ climate law and the bipartisan infrastructure law for industrial decarbonization will be spread across 33 projects and 20 states,” where it “will apply to some of the highest-emitting industrial manufacturing sectors—often described as ‘hard-to-decarbonize’ industries—including iron and steel, aluminum, cement, concrete, chemicals, food and beverages, and pulp and paper.”

Where it’s coming from: The money will be drawn from funds set aside under the Inflation Reduction Act ($5.47 billion) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ($489 million).

Why it’s important: The many projects to be funded—which include groundbreaking recycling initiatives, hydrogen-use projects, decarbonization of thermal processes and more—will remove approximately 14 million metric tons of emissions every year, the DOE estimates.

• Five of the highest-dollar-value projects, at half a billion dollars each, “are focused on decarbonizing cement, concrete, aluminum, iron and steel.”
• The work will take place in five states—Indiana, Ohio, California, Iowa and Mississippi—and a still-to-be-determined spot on the Mississippi River Basin.
• Many of the projects are spearheaded by NAM members, who have been critical in innovating decarbonization efforts from within the industry.

The NAM’s take: “Manufacturers are innovating and making tremendous investments to decarbonize their processes and products,” said NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Brandon Farris. “It is great to see the Department of Energy recognize multiple NAM members for their industry-leading initiatives.”

Vessel traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore—which contributes $15 million a day in economic activity, Business Insider reports—was suspended Tuesday after a container ship hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early morning. The collision caused the bridge to collapse, sending at least seven vehicles and their occupants into the Patapsco River, according to the Baltimore Sun (subscription).

What’s going on: “Officials, who spoke amid a continuing and massive search and rescue mission, said the port was not shut down and remained open to process trucks inside terminals.”

• Other ports are likely to be able to absorb container ships headed for Baltimore, The New York Times (subscription) reports.

Why it’s important: “The port, which generates more than 15,300 direct jobs, had rebounded from global supply chain difficulties and disruptions during the coronavirus pandemic and hit records last year for handling cargo,” according to the Baltimore Sun. “It is the nation’s 16th busiest port, ranking first for volume of autos and light trucks, roll-on/roll-off heavy farm and construction machinery, imported sugar and imported gypsum.”

• Baltimore is the closest Atlantic port to major Midwestern manufacturing hubs.
• Truckers are concerned about increased congestion resulting from the closure, “particularly because deliveries such as hazardous material loads cannot travel through Interstate 895 or I-95 tunnels.” Trucking companies are already warning customers of delays for shipments going through the Mid-Atlantic, according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription).
• In addition to affecting consumers in the Baltimore area, the traffic stoppage is likely to affect jobs at the port.

Washington, D.C. –  Following the Environmental Protection Agency’s release of new automobile emissions standards, National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons released the following statement:

“Auto manufacturers in America make enormous investments to both improve the efficiency of their vehicles and provide numerous options for consumers. While it is clear the EPA listened to manufacturers’ concerns about the timeline of this rule, challenges still lie ahead. Successful implementation of this policy will still require congressional action on the permitting reforms needed to build the charging infrastructure to support this transition. That includes the ramping up of electricity production and developing a reliable domestic supply of critical minerals.

“Manufacturers will continue to engage with EPA Administrator Regan and President Biden as a more realistic standard is needed to harmonize this rule with other regulations governing vehicle emissions so that we can grow the sector in the United States.”

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The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs nearly 13 million men and women, contributes $2.85 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 53% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.

Houston, Texas – The National Association of Manufacturers released the results of a new poll today showing bipartisan opposition to the Department of Energy’s freeze on export permits for new liquified natural gas projects. Respondents also strongly believe that the United States should pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy, which includes supporting our global allies by providing cleaner, American-produced natural gas.

“The American public agrees: LNG exports are critical to U.S. energy security, creating well-paying jobs and supporting our allies in Europe and Asia. This poll underscores the need for President Biden to immediately direct the Department of Energy to roll back this misguided and counterproductive policy,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “President Biden’s manufacturing legacy is at risk if the DOE and other federal agencies continue to act in direct contradiction to the stated goals of the president and the American people of bolstering manufacturing competitiveness in the U.S.”

The NAM analytics team conducted the poll March 15–18 and collected 1,000 responses from a nationwide sample of registered voters.

Key Findings:

• 87% of respondents agree the U.S. should continue to export natural gas.
• 76% of respondents agree with building more energy infrastructure, such as port terminals, here in the U.S.
• 74% of respondents agree with boosting production of domestic oil and natural gas in the U.S. instead of depending heavily on foreign energy sources.
• 72% of respondents prefer that American energy policy use an all-of-the-above strategy that includes oil and natural gas and renewable energy sources.
• 86% of respondents agree that we should change the permitting system so it doesn’t take so long for new energy infrastructure projects to be approved.

Background: On Jan. 26, the DOE announced a freeze on export permits for new LNG projects. Europe is the primary destination for U.S. LNG, accounting for 67% of total exports in the first six months of 2023. According to the DOE, Russian natural gas exports have 40% more global warming potential than U.S. LNG across 20 years. Russian gas also had 20% more global warming potential than European coal.

Read the full poll results here.

-NAM-

The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs nearly 13 million men and women, contributes $2.85 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 53% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.

Americans overwhelmingly support exporting U.S. natural gas, a new NAM poll reveals.

What’s going on: In addition to wanting continued exports of LNG, respondents believe the U.S. must boost its production of oil and natural gas, build more energy infrastructure and reform the broken permitting system, according to the findings of an NAM survey of 1,000 registered voters conducted March 15–18.

• In January, the Biden administration announced a moratorium on LNG export permits.
• Europe is the primary destination of exported U.S. LNG.

The details: Among the survey’s key findings:

• Some 87% believe the U.S. should continue exporting natural gas.
• About 86% say the permitting system must be changed so energy projects are approved and online in less time.
• Approximately 76% say the U.S. needs more energy infrastructure, such as port terminals.
• About 74% say the U.S. needs to increase domestic oil and natural gas production.
• And 72% would like to see the U.S. use an all-of-the-above energy approach that includes both traditional and renewable energy sources.

The last word: “The American public agrees: LNG exports are critical to U.S. energy security, creating well-paying jobs and supporting our allies in Europe and Asia,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons.

• “This poll underscores the need for President Biden to immediately direct the Department of Energy to roll back this misguided and counterproductive policy.”

The Biden administration is “very concerned” about U.S. reliance on China for critical minerals, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Wednesday, according to CNBC.

What’s going on: China’s dominance in the world’s critical minerals supply chain is “one of the pieces of the supply chain that we’re very concerned about in the United States,” Granholm told the news outlet on the sidelines of the International Energy Agency’s 2024 Ministerial Meeting in Paris.

• China produces approximately 60% of all rare earth elements, which are critical to alternative-energy technologies, such as electric vehicles.

Why it’s important: “As part of a rapid uptick in demand for critical minerals, the IEA has warned that today’s supply falls short of what is needed to transform the energy sector,” according to the article.

What the administration is doing: Both production and processing of critical minerals “have to be addressed,” Granholm said.

• “And that’s why we are working very closely to ensure that we have identified which raw materials [or] critical minerals we need to be able to do our transition to a clean energy economy.”

The NAM says: “Other countries are taking all possible measures to develop domestic sources of critical minerals, and it should be a wake-up call to the U.S. that we need to be doing the same,” said NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Brandon Farris. “We also need to reform our broken permitting system to get these projects operational as soon as possible.”

A senior Department of Energy official told the Senate at a Thursday hearing that the Biden administration’s recent decision to pause liquefied natural gas export permits will neither affect supplies to U.S. allies nor jeopardize international energy security, Reuters reports.

• Yet, data supplied by the NAM to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ahead of the hearing shows otherwise.

What’s going on: “‘It will not affect our ability to supply our allies,’ [U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary David] Turk said, adding that it does not affect already approved exports.”

• “A U.S. official earlier on Thursday told Reuters ‘I don’t think we’re concerned at all about our ability to meet (European) demand.’”
• The Senate hearing on the LNG permit export pause follows a House hearing on the same topic earlier in the week.

However … Since the 2022 start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Europe has come to rely increasingly on the U.S.—the world’s top LNG exporter—for natural gas, the NAM told lawmakers.

• “Europe is currently the primary destination for U.S. LNG, accounting for 67% of total exports in the first six months of 2023,” NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Chris Netram said. “For comparison, 64% of the United States’ global LNG exports in 2022, and 23% of American exports in 2021, went to the European Union. … [T]he war in Europe [even] forced diversions of LNG cargo that was bound for Asia.”

“Wrong direction”: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who called the hearing, said freezing liquefied natural gas export permits is “the wrong direction for our country,” whose LNG exports are helping allies in need.

• “Shockingly, in the White House statements [regarding the permit freeze], there is no reference at all to the crisis created by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, to the growing instability in the oil-and-gas-producing regions in the Middle East following Hamas’ attack on Israel or to any other crisis that U.S. LNG exports can help address.”

Environmental concerns: Though “Turk said the review will also consider pollution impacts on people living near LNG facilities … [and] ‘take into account all of the health environmental impacts,’” CNBC reports, the permit freeze could “benefit producers of energy sources with significantly higher emissions than [U.S.] LNG,” Netram continued.

• “According to the DOE, Russian exports to Europe had 40% more global warming potential than U.S. LNG across 20 years. Russian gas also had 20% more global warming potential than European coal. Clearly, U.S. LNG exports are better for the environment and help the U.S. and our allies achieve our climate goals.”

What’s next: The moratorium “could face court challenges,” according to CNBC. “A group of 23 Republican state attorneys general in a letter sent to the administration on Tuesday [said] that the Biden administration’s pause is illegal, arguing that the natural gas law requires the DOE to approve LNG exports unless it shows that doing so would not be in the public interest.” 

In a move that could have a significant negative impact on manufacturing in the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday finalized an update to the federal air quality particulate matter standard.

What’s going on: The EPA announced a significantly stricter National Ambient Air Quality Standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), lowering the level from 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air to 9 micrograms.

The background: America’s air is actually cleaner than ever, due in large part to manufacturers’ commitment to innovation.

• In fact, the EPA recently reported that PM2.5 concentrations have declined by 42% since 2000.
• Yet, last year, the agency signaled that it was considering lowering the standards even further, to as low as 8 micrograms per cubic meter—and while the NAM and manufacturers spoke out against the move, the EPA moved ahead.

The problem: If enacted, such an aggressive standard would make it far more difficult and costly for manufacturers to operate in the United States.

• It would put huge swaths of the country in “nonattainment,” meaning that they would not meet ambient air quality standards. Factories in nonattainment areas would be unable to operate. Permitting would become almost impossible, and economic development would grind to a halt.
• A recent NAM-commissioned analysis by Oxford Economics found that a standard at this level could reduce GDP by nearly $200 billion and cost as many as 1 million jobs through 2031.

Our take: “The Biden administration’s new PM2.5 standard takes direct aim at manufacturing investment and job creation in direct contradiction to the president’s stated goal of strengthening manufacturing in communities all across America,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons.

• And it will “mak[e] an already gridlocked permitting system further gridlocked” and discourage long-term investments by manufacturers. 

Unfair disadvantage, tough choices: It would put the U.S. at a disadvantage with global competitors, too, Timmons added.

• “Manufacturers in America will also be hard pressed to make long-term investment plans domestically as our global competitors have set more reasonable goals. The EU standard is currently 25, and a proposal there would be to reach 10 by 2030. The UK has a target of 10 by 2040.”
• And it would require state and local officials to make difficult decisions about which critical infrastructure projects in their areas move forward, Timmons continued.

High cost, little impact: What’s more, the tightened rule won’t address the greatest sources of particulate matter, according to NAM partners the American Forest & Paper Association and American Wood Council.

• The “EPA’s rule delivers a devastating blow to U.S. manufacturing and the economy while doing nothing to address the largest sources of particulate matter, including wildfire smoke,” they said in a joint statement. “This unworkable air rule undermines President Biden’s promise to grow and reshore manufacturing jobs.”
• “This administration has set the PM2.5 NAAQS at near background levels, ensuring permit gridlock for most manufacturing sectors around the country, while failing to address 84% of overall PM2.5 emissions.”

Next steps: The NAM has spoken out repeatedly against this stricter regulation and will continue to call on Congress to reverse it.

NAM in the news: AFP, Associated Press, Fox News, Daily Caller and Newsweek all covered the NAM’s response to the finalized rule.

The last word: “The U.S. already has some of the strictest air standards in the world, and thanks to manufacturers’ innovation and leadership, some of the cleanest air and best environmental records,” Timmons concluded. “Manufacturers will consider all options to reverse this harmful and unnecessary standard, because it is our duty to stand against policies that hold our country back.”