ABA cautions EPA on impact of regulating rising dough
Robb MacKie, president and CEO of the American Bakers’ Association (ABA), Washington, D.C., testified before the House Energy and Power Subcommittee on June 19, discussing the negative impact the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) potential lowering of its regulatory thresholds and the costs of Title V (permitting and prevention of significant deterioration rules) could have on bakers.
The move could be economically devastating for bakers, MacKie says. “In 2009, Administrator [Lisa P.] Jackson promised that the EPA would not regulate ‘every cow and Dunkin’ Donuts,’ but that is what would happen if bakers need to consider their CO2 emissions from dough,” MacKie says. “Yeast cells, which are living organisms, help dough rise and create CO2 as a byproduct, like we do when we breathe. The bottom line is that the cost of overly-broad proposed rules that regulate natural, agriculture-related CO2 will force American families to pay more for baked goods.”