While attention has been focused on the presidential election, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is quietly proceeding with implementation of new ozone regulations that could make job creation more difficult in America, potentially exerting a greater economic impact than either candidate’s fiscal plans.

Ozone is already on the decline, making the regulations questionable even at a fraction of the likely cost. EPA’s own data show that ground level ozone in the U.S. declined 32 percent since 1980 -- 17 percent just since 2000. Previous regulations issued in 2008 were then the most stringent in history, and progress is continuing under the 2008 standards.

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The implementation process of the 2008 regulations provides a noteworthy illustration of EPA actions that created uncertainty and may have impacted the rate of improving air quality. After issuing standards in 2008 limiting ozone emissions to 75 parts per billion (ppb), EPA stopped implementation work in 2010. For two years, manufacturers, the construction industry, oil and natural gas producers and other job creators were left in suspense as the Obama administration reconsidered the regulations. The 2008 standards were ultimately left in place, but the delay pushed EPA so far behind that states didn’t receive necessary EPA implementation guidance until 2015, seven years after the 2008 ozone standards were issued. EPA partially acknowledged the problem by granting 19 metropolitan areas – including St. Louis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. – more time to comply.

At this point, commonsense suggests that EPA would allow states time to catch up on the delayed 2008 ozone standards. Instead, EPA chose to issue new, more stringent standards of 70 ppb the very same year, 2015. Even worse, EPA maintained a schedule that forces states to develop two different but concurrent ozone programs, unfairly burdening state agencies and local economies. That’s in addition to vehicle fuel efficiency standards, vehicle emissions standards, and power plant and factory emissions standards that are in place and contributing to ozone reductions.

EPA’s new rule increased the number of counties potentially facing non-attainment status from 217 to 958 – a fourfold increase. For context, peak ozone levels even in Yellowstone National Park at the time were 66 ppb. Ozone standards that approach or are lower than naturally occurring background levels could place even rural, undeveloped areas out of compliance and could place new restrictions on virtually any economic activity.

A collection of 269 business groups urged the EPA to avoid moving ahead with ozone standards “that will make it difficult to manufacture products, build new projects, produce energy, improve infrastructure and hire the workers needed to make this all happen.” Made up of manufacturers, builders, contractors, road construction groups and chambers of commerce across the nation, the organizations warned EPA, “A stricter ozone standard could close off communities across the nation to new jobs and economic growth…”

Undeterred and without compelling scientific evidence suggesting the new standards are necessary, the EPA moved forward. Legislation like the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016, passed by the House with a companion bill introduced in the Senate, would bring relief to states and delay the impacts from unnecessary and costly new ozone obligations. It should be a top congressional priority during the lame duck session.

New methane regulations follow the same pattern. Methane emissions associated with the natural gas industry declined by 14.8 percent from 1990-2014 while natural gas production increased by 47 percent, according to EPA data. Yet the EPA and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are developing new regulations, despite the obvious concern that implementing two sets of regulations from two different agencies on the same issue practically guarantees duplicative, costly overlap.

Overregulation for ozone and methane emissions threatens to undermine oil and natural gas production, and consumers could pay the price. The abundance of affordable natural gas produced in the U.S. has helped drive down electricity, heating and product costs for both homes and businesses, while robust domestic crude oil production has put downward pressure on gasoline prices. Average U.S. disposable household income was $1337 higher in 2015 due to savings generated by shale energy development. At the same time, increasing use of clean, affordable natural gas has pushed carbon emissions from power generation to their lowest level in more than 20 years.

Maintaining the widespread economic benefits generated by energy production should be a top consideration in the regulatory process. Current standards, in combination with industry technological investments, are effective. Letting existing ozone and methane regulations continue to work is the right path to protect public health and environmental progress without jeopardizing the middle-class economy. If the EPA won’t listen, it’s up to Congress to act.

Howard J. Feldman, Sr. Director of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs at API.