SEC Requirement
As part of Republicans' focus on how government rules affect businesses, the House will consider a resolution Feb. 10 instructing ten committees-including Agriculture, Financial Services and Judiciary-to investigate regulations that may impede job growth. Issa's panel plans a hearing the same day on "regulatory impediments to job creation."
Most of the letters to Issa's committee were from trade associations like the National Mining Association and the Business Roundtable. They listed proposed regulations as well as those now in effect.
Boeing, based in Chicago, provided pages of details about the effects of rules such as a Securities and Exchange Commission requirement that companies report whether certain minerals used in their products were mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo or adjoining countries.
"These requirements will be extremely burdensome and costly, if not impossible, for a company like Boeing to comply with," wrote Tim Keating, senior vice president of government operations at Boeing, whose shares have risen 20% over the last 12 months.
'Major' New Regulations
Robert E. Murray, president of privately held Murray Energy Corp. in Alledonia, Ohio, said the domestic coal industry might be harmed by EPA rules to limit greenhouse gases, flaws in Clean Water Act permits, and a proposed ruling on coal ash.
"It is a disaster to see our jobs eliminated in the coal mines for little or no environmental benefit," Murray wrote.
Issa's letter to the companies and trade groups said that in fiscal 2010 federal agencies created 43 "major" new regulations at an estimated cost of $28 billion.
More than 50 of those responding, mostly trade groups and companies like Toyota Motor North America and ConocoPhillips, cited concerns about rules to limit greenhouse-gas emissions. EPA rules limiting carbon emissions from power plants and oil refineries took effect Jan. 2 after Congress failed to agree on a plan to cap greenhouse gases blamed for climate change.