Rick Perry's False Logic

The EPA recently compromised on air quality standards and lowered the allowable ozone levels in the air. Rick Perry is complaining about it, but his blame is misplaced.

Perry says that this is "arbitrary" and makes another nonsensical argument:

The new EPA standard will lower the allowable concentration of ozone in the air to no more than 75 parts per billion, compared with the old federal standard of 80. Texas had used an allowable standard of 85 parts per billion. Perry said the state is "going above and beyond" to meet the current standards.

No it isn't. If the standard allowable in Texas was higher than the federal limits before the EPA toughened them up a little, Texas isn't really going above and beyond.

So anyways, as most Republicans do, Perry argues that this will place a burden on taxpayers. I argue that this is passed on to taxpayers because of lax regulations on business and corporations. If oil and gas companies had to act right in the first place, then fixing the air and / or keeping it clean would be a cost of doing business, rather than a backend tax cost. Once again, Republican policies leave regular people holding the bag.