President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cut red tape for U.S. manufacturers and stimulate job growth.
The memo, titled Promoting Domestic Manufacturing and Job Creation —Policies and Procedures Relating to Implementation of Air Quality Standards, calls for setting air quality standards based on transparent science.
It is designed to ensure efficient and cost-effective implementation of air quality standards under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and regional haze programs of the Clean Air Act.
“Today, I will sign a presidential memorandum directing the EPA to cut even more red tape on our manufacturers so that they can expand and continue to hire and to grow,” Trump announced during a Rose Garden press conference on tax reform. “And I will say, this is about tax cuts today, but the cutting of regulations could have had the same or even a bigger impact on our economy. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.
“People were stuck. They’d have a factory. It would be under review for 10 years, 12 years, and then get rejected. You’ve seen what we’ve done with the pipelines and so many businesses all over our country that are being approved rapidly,” the president said.
“This memorandum helps ensure that EPA carries out its core mission, while reducing regulatory burdens for domestic manufacturing,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
“International and background sources of air pollution are critical issues facing state, local, and tribal agencies implementing national standards. The president’s leadership will guide our Agency’s continued commitment to proper implementation of the Clean Air Act,” Pruitt said.
The president noted that projected job growth for American manufacturing is at an all-time high, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.
“With us today is the president of the National Association of Manufacturers, Jay Timmons,” Trump said. “For 20 years, their organization has surveyed American manufacturers. All over the country they survey, and it’s a great organization. And they have never before seen the levels of optimism that our tax cuts have delivered.”
Trump added, “In fact, today there is even more good news, and I wanted all of you to be the first to hear it: According to the latest survey by the National Association of Manufacturers, projected job growth for American manufacturing has just reached a new all-time high.”
According to the NAM Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey for the first quarter of 2018, optimism among small manufacturers hit the highest-level ever recorded in the survey’s 20-year history (94.5 percent). Optimism among manufacturers registered its second-highest level ever recorded in the survey’s history at 93.5 percent. Furthermore, projected wage growth registered its fastest pace in 17 years, and projected sales growth registered its second-highest reading the survey’s history.
Trump said his administration is also cutting down the number of years it takes to get approvals for highway construction.
“We’re getting highway approvals down from 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 years. We’re getting them down to one year and two years. We’re going to get the highways approved quickly. We’re going to get our roads, our bridges, our tunnels, our schools,” the president said.
“No more waiting 18 to 20 years to get an approval and then, by the way, they don’t get the approval, and you may not get the approval, but it’s going to be quick. It will be a quick rejection, but you’ll get them, for the most part,” he added.
“And we will take care of our environment. Remember that. We’ll take just as good, if not better, care of our environment, and we’ll have better roads, and better bridges, and better schools,” Trump said.
(Courtesy of CNSNews.com)
