Congressman Morgan Griffith is celebrating a win for the rubber tire manufacturing businesses in Virginia. Environmentalists are worried about the consequences.
Virginia has more than 3,000 employees who work in the rubber tire manufacturing business. That’s according to Census records. It’s also why a Biden-era rule requiring these businesses to install new equipment to reduce emissions was such a concern to Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith, who says the industry calculates fabricating and installing these new devices will cost more than $100 million nationwide.
"Some on the other side may say, ‘Well, if we repeal this regulation we’re letting tire manufacturers get away with unchecked pollution.’ Madame Speaker, ‘I say not so. Not so.’ EPA's national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants would still exist," the Congressman says. "All major sources would still have to abide by their Clean Air Act Title 5 permits and various other federal and local controls and regulations."
President Trump signed Griffith’s bill, and now Tim Cywinski at the Sierra Club says the new law will put profits ahead of people.
"When a certain manufacturing factory will release dozens of toxic chemicals that create chronic illness, there's something we should do about that. That is what the Biden administration tried to do, and the Trump administration is going the other way," Cywinski says. "That's what we’re seeing in Morgan Griffith, who happens to be an acolyte of this idea [that] if it's good for business, it's all I care about even if that comes at the expense of people."
When the Virginia rubber hits the road, Griffith is also trying to overturn Biden-era rules on car emissions and sales of electric vehicles.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
