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Off The Editor’s Desk – 12-2-2015

Does anyone know what’s a Boiler MACT? I had never heard that term until last week while reading an article that MACT may cost jobs in Wisconsin.

According to Dustin Howard, a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government, MACT stands for the Maximum Achievable Control Technology. Howard wrote, “It is the focus of recently revised rules by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To comply with rules justified by the President’s 2011 Executive Order 13563, industrial operations that generate their own power with boilers must further reduce emissions.”

“Reduce emissions with questionable benefits through costly retrofitting processes in order to be legally operational.” Howard indicated.

According to the National Association of Manufacturers, EPA estimates the compliance cost for American Manufacturers will initially be $5 billion, with $1.5 billion annually, further tamping wage and job growth.

In the forest products industry alone, these and other regulations caused three Maine paper mills to close already. Other damage is being felt in similar mills in Wisconsin, the report stated.

“For some plants, the capital requirements will deplete multiple years of discretionary capital and include a continued operating cost that often equates to five to ten percent of payroll,” said Expera spokesperson Addie Teeters. Expera has four paper facilities in Wisconsin, and one in Maine.

U. S. Representative Bruce Poliquin, (R-Maine), won support for an amendment, which would defund and delay enforcement of these rules until late next fiscal year. In a statement, Poliquin stated: “Over regulations and poor government policies have led to higher energy prices for Maine families and business. Too many of our paper mills have closed because the high cost of energy in our State, and it’s critical that Congress acts to stop it.”

What drew my attention to this regulation is that for some time now I have questioned the President’s proposal to stop the burning of fossil fuels and how much that it will hurt our businesses and raise the cost of electricity to our homes.

I am also very concerned for the forest products industry. The paper you are now reading is a forest product, and all the work done in our offices is on paper products. I have seen the cost of buying bulk paper stock increase many times over the years that I have been involved with printing products. Back when I first started in this business, we sold a ream (500 sheets) of what was called typing paper for well under a dollar. Now that ream (now called copy paper) is close to ten times higher.

Just one other note and that is we are also in the recycling business, the sheet of newsprint you hold is composed of over forty percent recycled fiber.

Thanks for reading!       ~Carlton