More and more often news stores are showing the impact of costly regulations imposed on the economy by the Obama administration.  The Cincinnati Enquirer reported, “Smart Papers, the Hamilton-based paper maker, said last Thursday it has begun winding down operations while it seeks a potential buyer for all or part of its nearly 120-year-old paper business. The company, which is the last North American manufacturer of premium coated printing papers used for everything from packaging to corporate reports, employs about 200. Competition from Asia, rising costs of raw materials and uncertainty surrounding new federal pollution rules contributed to the decision, said Tim Needham, Smart Papers’ chairman.”

The Enquirer notes, “[Needham] said the rapid expansion of low-priced Asian coated paper manufacturing, increased costs of raw materials, and new federal pollution rules were also factors. Those new rules, Needham suggested, could make a sale more difficult. The Environmental Protection Agency rules, known as the boiler MACT – maximum achievable control technology – aim to reduce hazardous air pollutants caused by industrial boilers. The EPA issued the rule in March under a court-ordered deadline, and has said it plans to reconsider those rules by April 12. . . . But as written today, Needham said the rules would require his company to essentially replace its existing boilers. . . . Beyond the cost of new boilers, Needham said, current boiler technology doesn’t exist to comply with the EPA standards.”

It’s these kinds of job-killing regulations that Republicans are proposing legislation to block. Senate Republicans, led by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), have introduced the Jobs Through Growth Act which tries to remove the government-imposed obstacles to job creation generated by the Obama administration. The Senate Republican jobs plan “includes a moratorium on new regulations, and also a new process for Congressional approval of regulations through the REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny). The plan repeals burdensome regulations like greenhouse gas emissions and farm dust requirements.”

House Republicans passed a bill to block the costly EPA regulations that will shutter businesses like Ohio-based Smart Papers. According to Bloomberg News, “The measure was approved 275-142 yesterday as Republicans push to curtail Environmental Protection Agency regulations they say are harming the economy. . . . The House vote sends ‘a strong message of the importance of providing EPA with additional time to issue achievable standards,’ Thomas Ryan, a spokesman for Memphis, Tennessee- based International Paper Co., the world’s largest paper and pulp producer, said in an e-mail before the vote.”

As Sen. Paul said, “The president’s jobs plan was voted down this week by members of both parties. We simply cannot look to the failed policies of the last two years for an example of how to grow our economy and create jobs. More government spending and excessive regulation are the problem not the solution. We have spent too long increasing the tax and regulatory burdens on job creators, instead of allowing them to operate more freely and create more jobs.”

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