Sept. 2 - Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, offered the following remarks on the President's announcement of the withdrawal of the proposed changes to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. ERCC is a group of power companies working on reasonable implementation of the environmental and energy policies in order to ensure affordable and reliable electric power:

"Today President Obama, in a landmark announcement, recognized that EPA was considering an ozone rule that was inappropriate given already-scheduled reviews due to take place under the Clean Air Act.  Further, he recognized that the precarious condition of the U.S. economy made expensive new Clean Air rules very dangerous to the well-being of the American people.   While this clear statement that costly regulations are not job creation programs is a welcome agreement with what most economists already have said, there is still much more work to be done.  The pending ozone rule was just one part of a maze of overlapping and costly rules in store for American industry and most especially for the power sector.  In particular, the utility air toxics rule and the transport rule are likely to result in substantial unemployment across dozens of industrial sectors, increase electric rates for strapped American families, schools and hospitals, and decreased electric reliability.  As the President prepares his remarks for his jobs speech, we need more of this common sense - but today was a good start."