Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) says that President Biden’s new rules for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hurt the steel industry, especially in Ohio and Indiana, just like similar rules did in the European Union this past year when there was an oil crisis.
Vance wrote to Biden this week about the administration’s strict EPA rules for power plants throughout the United States.
The Biden administration’s EPA, according to Vance, “has neglected to consider fully the adverse effects of the standards to the industrial users of fossil-fuel produced electricity,” since the agency is unable to name even one domestic power plant that can achieve the green energy goals outlined by regulations.
Vance says that the rules would be especially bad for the U.S. steel industry.
“The rule would certainly be especially hard on the steel business, which is one of the most important industries in the country. Ohio and Indiana, which make the most steel in the country, depend heavily on fossil fuels to make electricity—80% in Ohio and 91% in Indiana. When new rules make energy more expensive and hurt the power grid, steelmakers in the Heartland and all over the country will be hurt. The steel industry has already said that “increased costs and possible problems with base load generation as well as grid reliability from the early closing of power plants powered by fossil fuels will have a huge effect on the viability of steel plants throughout the United States.”
“Vance brings up what has happened to the steel industry in the European Union (EU) because of the continent’s energy crisis.”
“My worries aren’t that far-fetched. The energy crisis that occurred in the European Union this past year was a disaster for the steelmakers in the area,” Vance says. “Rising prices of energy, including power, made it unprofitable to make steel. Several steel mills in Europe were shut down completely or partially.”
Experts in the business world warned last year that the energy crisis, in which EU leaders told Europeans to ration their energy use, could lead to a “permanent deindustrialization.” Several hundred steelworkers in Wales as well as England lost their jobs because of this.
Vance argues, “This administration may brag about its infrastructure spending and public subsidies for electric cars, but those short-term demand fluctuations won’t solve the foreseeable strain of climate alarmism or unsustainable environmental rules. Please take back the proposed rule,” I say.
Comments are closed.