Reader's view: Slowing boiler regulations will save manufacturing jobs

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Regulatory Relief Act is currently in need of co-sponsors for passage in the U.S. Senate. The Bill is S. 1392 — the EPA Regulatory Relief Act, and will help save many Minnesota manufacturing jobs.

This legislation would give the EPA the time it needs to rewrite the current Boiler MACT rules. The bill does not stop the regulation of boilers in the manufacturing sector; it would simply allow time to put the regulations in place by easing in the regulations instead of a virtual overhaul of industry overnight at a staggering cost that the manufacturing industry could not absorb all at once.

We all need and want clean air and water, but we must be able to strike a balance for public health, the environment and manufacturing jobs. These jobs are family- and rural community-supporting jobs. These jobs also support the economy of our state, from rural to metro.

With the economic climate as it is now, we cannot afford to lose too many more American manufacturing jobs in the state of Minnesota — or the country, for that matter. I urge U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken of Minnesota to consider all of their constituents’ interests and protect Minnesota’s manufacturing jobs and the environment by supporting the EPA Regulatory Relief Act in the U.S. Senate.

Timothy Wegner

International Falls

The writer is executive vice president of United Steelworkers Local 0159 at Boise Paper.

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