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Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) today supported passage of H.R. 4557, the Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns (BRICK) Act.  The bill was previously heard in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, of which Congressman Latta is a member.

“The Brick MACT standards represent yet another instance of the U.S. EPA pushing costly and unrealistic regulations on small businesses without regard for their legality or achievability.  It is also unclear how much of an impact these regulations will have in significantly reducing mercury and non-mercury hazardous air pollutants,” said Latta. “This legislation will ensure that questions of legality can be settled once and for all before businesses are compelled to spend tens of millions of dollars on new regulations.”

According to several estimates, the industry-wide implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Brick and Structural Clay Products Manufacturing and Clay Ceramics Manufacturing (Brick MACT) would cost small businesses as much as $100 million per year.  Due to the significant costs of compliance and the threat of possible plant shutdowns, regulated brickmaking facilities have filed lawsuits to block the EPA from implementing these standards.  H.R. 4557 would step in and push back the timeline for compliance with Brick MACT until all legal challenges to the rule have been settled. 

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