Railway Supply Institute Vice President of Government Affairs Nicole Brewin expressed concerns Wednesday, June 4, 2014, of potential negative impacts resulting from the U.S. Environmental Protectation Agency (EPA) proposal on carbon emissions.
EPA unveiled its proposal June 2.
"While RSI and its member companies are still reviewing the proposal, we are concerned that the EPA's proposed carbon emissions regulations will burden consumers and cause disproportionate harm to the U.S. rail industry and its supply companies, which manufacture goods for and provide services to our nation's freight railroads," Brewin said in a statement.
"Not only is EPA's proposal unprecedented in its reach, cost, and complexity, the proposed carbon regulations could strike a major blow to our nation's economy, raising energy prices and costing jobs," Brewin said. She stated that recent analyses of potential carbon regulations show the impacts could include: as many as 178,000 jobs lost per year; double digit electricity price increases in many states; and forced shutdown of over half of all U.S. coal-fired power plants.