EPA Employment Impact Analysis Act

Summary: EPA Employment Impact Analysis Act - Prohibits the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from proposing or finalizing any major rule under the Clean Air Act (CAA) until after the Administrator: (1) completes an economy-wide analysis capturing the costs and effects across industry sectors and markets in the United States of the implementation of major rules promulgated under the CAA; and (2) establishes a process to update such analysis at least semiannually, in order to provide for the currently required continuing evaluation of potential loss or shifts in employment.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``EPA Employment Impact Analysis 
Act''.

SEC. 2. ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the Environmental Protection Agency has systematically 
        distorted the true impact of regulations promulgated by the 
        Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act (42 
        U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) on job creation by using incomplete 
        analyses to assess effects on employment, primarily as a result 
        of the Environmental Protection Agency failing to take into 
        account the cascading effects of a regulatory change across 
        interconnected industries and markets nationwide;
            (2) despite the Environmental Protection Agency finding 
        that the impact of certain air pollution regulations will 
        result in net job creation, implementation of the air pollution 
        regulations will actually require billions of dollars in 
        compliance costs, resulting in reduced business profits and 
        millions of actual job losses;
            (3)(A) the analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency 
        of the final rule of the Agency entitled ``National Emission 
        Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired 
        Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of 
        Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-
        Commercial-Institutional, and Small Industrial-Commercial-
        Institutional Steam Generating Units'' (77 Fed. Reg. 9304 (Feb. 
        16, 2012)) estimated that implementation of the final rule 
        would result in the creation of 46,000 temporary construction 
        jobs and 8,000 net new permanent jobs; but
            (B) a private study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting, 
        using a ``whole economy'' model, estimated that implementation 
        of the final rule described in subparagraph (A) would result in 
        a negative impact on the income of workers in an amount 
        equivalent to 180,000 to 215,000 lost jobs in 2015 and 50,000 
        to 85,000 lost jobs each year thereafter;
            (4)(A) the analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency 
        of the final rule of the Agency entitled ``Federal 
        Implementation Plans: Interstate Transport of Fine Particulate 
        Matter and Ozone and Correction of SIP Approvals'' (76 Fed. 
        Reg. 48208 (Aug. 8, 2011)) estimated that implementation of the 
        final rule would result in the creation of 700 jobs per year; 
        but
            (B) a private study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting 
        estimated that implementation of the final rule described in 
        subparagraph (A) would result in the elimination of a total of 
        34,000 jobs during the period beginning in calendar year 2013 
        and ending in calendar year 2037;
            (5)(A) the analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency 
        of the final rules of the Agency entitled ``National Emission 
        Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Major Sources: 
        Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers and Process 
        Heaters'' (76 Fed. Reg. 15608 (March 21, 2011)) and ``National 
        Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Area 
        Sources: Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers'' 
        (76 Fed. Reg. 15554 (March 21, 2011)) estimated that 
        implementation of the final rules would result in the creation 
        of 2,200 jobs per year; but
            (B) a private study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting 
        estimated that implementation of the final rules described in 
        subparagraph (A) would result in the elimination of 28,000 jobs 
        per year during the period beginning in calendar year 2013 and 
        ending in calendar year 2037;
            (6) implementation of certain air pollution rules of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency that have not been reviewed, 
        updated, or finalized as of the date of enactment of this Act, 
        such as regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and the update 
        or review of national ambient air quality standards, are 
        predicted to result in significant and negative employment 
        impacts, but the Agency has not yet fully studied or disclosed 
        the full impacts of existing Agency regulations;
            (7) in reviewing, developing, or updating any regulations 
        promulgated under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) 
        after the date of enactment of this Act, the Environmental 
        Protection Agency must be required to accurately disclose the 
        adverse impact the existing regulations of the Agency will have 
        on jobs and employment levels across the economy in the United 
        States and disclose those impacts to the American people before 
        issuing a final rule; and
            (8) although since 1977, section 321(a) of the Clean Air 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 7621(a)) has required the Administrator of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency to ``conduct continuing 
        evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment which may 
        result from the administration or enforcement of the provision 
        of [the Clean Air Act] and applicable implementation plans, 
        including where appropriate, investigating threatened plant 
        closures or reductions in employment allegedly resulting from 
        such administration or enforcement'', the Environmental 
        Protection Agency has failed to undertake that analysis or 
        conduct a comprehensive study that considers the impact of 
        programs carried out under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et 
        seq.) on jobs and changes in employment.
    (b) Prohibition.--The Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency shall not propose or finalize any major rule (as defined in 
section 804 of title 5, United States Code) under the Clean Air Act (42 
U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) until after the date on which the Administrator--
            (1) completes an economy-wide analysis capturing the costs 
        and cascading effects across industry sectors and markets in 
        the United States of the implementation of major rules 
        promulgated under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); 
        and
            (2) establishes a process to update that analysis not less 
        frequently than semiannually, so as to provide for the 
        continuing evaluation of potential loss or shifts in 
        employment, pursuant to section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act (42 
        U.S.C. 7621(a)), that may result from the implementation of 
        major rules under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.).