Washington, D.C.—Late last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled to uphold the stringent Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2012 regulation to reduce particulate matter from power plants and manufacturing facilities from 15 to 12 micrograms per cubic meter, a difference of only 3 micrograms.

“You have to ask yourself what is the real objective or goal of the EPA in issuing this rule?” said Rep. McKinley. “Is the next move to reduce particulate matter to ten or five? What’s to guarantee the EPA won’t move the goal posts even further after companies have spent millions to comply?”

“To put this into context, imagine the Empire State Building filled top to bottom with ping pong balls,” added McKinley. “Reducing the standard by 3 micrograms per cubic meter would be like taking one ping pong ball out of that building. Is a miniscule reduction like this worth shuttering plants and losing jobs?”

“This is just another attack on coal that will have real costs and result in fewer jobs with little benefit to the American public,” said McKinley. “The EPA needs to learn that just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”