{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/inhofe-urges-epa-to-abandon-new-refinery-requirements", "Inhofe Urges EPA to Abandon New Refinery Requirements", "2014-10-29", "2014", "2014-10", "Republican", "House", "OK", "James Inhofe", "I000024", "www.inhofe.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Inhofe Urges EPA to Abandon New Refinery Requirements\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, October 29, 2014\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 \u00a0U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), senior member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, sent a letter\u00a0Tuesday\u00a0to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy urging the EPA to withdraw its proposed new control requirements for petroleum refineries.\u00a0In the letter, Inhofe highlights that the\u00a0new requirements\u00a0are not justified by a sound risk assessment; do not provide meaningful benefits to human health or the environment;\u00a0and\u00a0fail to comply with\u00a0EPA\u2019s mandate under\u00a0Section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act, which requires a continuous evaluation of\u00a0the regulations' impact to employment in the United States.\u00a0\r\nInhofe wrote,\u00a0\"The EPA is proposing new control requirements for flares, storage tanks, coking units, and fenceline monitoring at petroleum refineries.\u00a0\u00a0These regulations are not justified by risk assessments and will result in an increase in the cost of producing gasoline; further, with these regulations, EPA has again failed to comply with the employment impact analysis requirements of Section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act.\u00a0\u00a0In the interest of American consumers and EPA compliance with both the law and the President\u2019s Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 concerning the principles of sound regulation, I urge you to withdraw these rules.\u201d\r\nThe new requirements would come in the form of\u00a0amendments to a variety of refinery Maximum Achievable Control Performance Standards (MACT) and New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), which are collectively referred to as the Petroleum Refinery Sector Risk and Technology Review\u00a0and New Source Performance Standards (RTR).\r\n\"A key principle of sound regulatory policy is that regulations be pursued only when they are targeting significant, scientifically identified risks that cannot be otherwise addressed.\u00a0\u00a0In 2008, when EPA last developed an RTR rulemaking for refineries, EPA elected to take no regulatory action, citing that the public health and environmental risk of refinery operations around the country were within an adequate margin of safety and did not require additional regulation.\u00a0\u00a0Under the Obama Administration, EPA conducted a massive data collection effort, assessing the same risk characteristics, and while the Agency established a nearly identical risk assessment as the 2008 rulemaking, it pursued the opposite course and elected to mandate additional, costly requirements on the industry.\u00a0\u00a0As written, the RTR dismisses the instructions within EO 12866 that 'agencies should promulgate only such regulations as are required by law, are necessary to interpret the law, or are made necessary by compelling public need.'\u00a0 The Clean Air Act does not mandate these regulations and EPA has failed to justify why they are 'necessary by compelling public need.\u2019\r\nTo read the full text of the letter\u00a0click here.\u00a0\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/inhofe-urges-epa-to-abandon-new-refinery-requirements"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6683791764080524, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}