American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman today issued the following statement regarding Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson’s letter to Sen. Wyden regarding U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman’s decision to vacate EPA’s stay of the March 2011 Boiler MACT rules.

“EPA stayed the March 2011 Boiler MACT rules and have since re-proposed those rules.  Judge Friedman vacated the stay last week making the March rules effective again, and now EPA has signaled its intention to provide relief for those businesses that may be impacted.  Businesses remain subject to a cycle of regulations that are proposed only to be subject to intervening court challenge, creating enormous confusion and uncertainty.  We need a solution to restore some level of certainty, and that solution is the EPA Regulatory Relief Act.

“Our position has remained consistent: businesses need the certainty of affordable, achievable rules for which they can plan investments to comply.  These are multi-billion-dollar investment decisions that cannot be made overnight, especially not when the goal post is consistently being moved.  Congress needs to pass legislation to put this issue to bed so that businesses can begin down the path to compliance.”