OREANDA-NEWS. The next president should review several rules of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to bolster manufacturing, a trade group executive said in a paper released this week.

US manufacturers are put at risk by regulations, and the president should direct agencies to interpret laws to promote benefit-cost balancing, Paul Noe, vice president for public policy at the American Forest and Paper Association, said.

Noe's paper criticizes both stationary and mobile source EPA regulations, as well as rules by other federal agencies. The paper was released at a conference held by Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Noe signaled out EPA emission limits on boilers as a rule that should be changed. The rule was first proposed in 2010 and made changes to mercury and air toxics emissions standards for boilers, incinerators and process heaters.

Parts of the rule were struck down for the second time in July, which could affect over 1,000 boilers at facilities that just came into compliance in January.

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals largely sided with environmental groups that challenged the earlier standards, set in 2011, as not stringent enough.

"Industry is prepared to comply but wants regulatory certainty," Noe said.

The Clean Power Plan,meanwhile, expands EPA's authority and could increase the costs of power and natural gas, Noe said.

EPA's New Source review program should be modified to allow manufacturers to make routine investments in maintenance and repairs without triggering time-consuming and costly permit changes, Noe said.