Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are scheduled to examine the impact of Clean Air Act rules on job creation Thursday, one day after U.S. EPA must release a plan to limit toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants for the first time.

A federal court has given EPA until Wednesday to propose a replacement for the George W. Bush-era Clean Air Mercury Rule, a cap-and-trade program that would have required power plants to cut their mercury pollution by about 70 percent but would not have limited about 180 other kinds of toxic pollution. That plan was rejected in 2008, and now the Obama administration is preparing to issue a rule that could require utilities to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new pollution controls.

Though the rule likely will be decried by Republicans and industry groups, who have raised concerns that the regulations put in place by the Obama administration will lead to a rise in electricity prices, Democrats have a jobs argument up their sleeves.

According to a study released last month by researchers at the University of Massachusetts, it will take about 1.46 million years of new labor over the next five years to comply with the toxics limits and another proposed rule for power plants -- the equivalent of creating 290,000 full-time jobs over that time period. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has repeatedly cited the study during appearances on Capitol Hill, saying it strengthens the case for rules that are already justified by the lives saved and medical costs avoided.

The new jobs would come from upgrading and maintaining the pollution controls that would allow power plants to meet the new standards. In part because of strong environmental laws, the U.S. environmental technology sector leads the world with about $300 billion in revenue and exports goods and services to other countries, Jackson said last month.

"We should not forfeit that lead," she said. "We should not miss out on extraordinary opportunities to supply the world with environmental technologies that are made in the USA" (Greenwire, Feb. 8).

That argument has gotten a warm welcome from Senate Democrats such as Tom Carper of Delaware, who chairs the Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who leads the subpanel on "green jobs." Their subcommittees jointly will hold Thursday's hearing.

"These are American jobs in manufacturing, installing and operating modern pollution control technology and producing clean energy -- jobs that come at a crucial time as our nation's economy continues to recover and grow," Carper said in a statement.

The witnesses at the hearing will represent labor groups, utilities and the makers of control equipment. Among them is Paul Allen, chief environmental officer at Constellation Energy Group Inc., who has recently said the power sector will be able to handle EPA's new standards.

Senators also will hear from David Montgomery of Charles River Associates, the consulting firm that produced the economic analysis used by the University of Massachusetts researchers to come up with their employment numbers. Montgomery criticized the job gains estimate in recent testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, saying the researchers did not consider whether jobs would be lost in the rest of the economy due to the 35 to 40 percent increase in wholesale energy costs that his firm predicted.

The jobs study also projected that it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to install the new equipment, and utilities will likely pass much of those costs to their ratepayers, said Margo Thorning, senior vice president at the American Council for Capital Formation, in a recent interview.

"What happens to industrial consumers who face electricity price increases?" Thorning asked. "Will they be able to expand their business, or will they decide that electricity prices are just too high, and move elsewhere? When you throw a pebble into the pond, the ripples extend very far."

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) will try to make the point at the hearing that air and climate regulations cost jobs and raise gas prices, spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said Friday.

Barrasso has introduced a bill to stop federal agencies from limiting greenhouse gases under existing laws and has been one of the most vocal critics of air pollution rules in the new Congress. During a previous hearing on EPA's budget, he said the Obama administration is mistaken when it says the Clean Air Act will save millions of lives and create millions of jobs.

"It may be a regulator's dream, but it is a small business owner's nightmare," Barrasso said.

Schedule: The hearing is Thursday, March 17, at 10 a.m. in 406 Dirksen.

Witnesses: Barbara Somson, legislative director, United Auto Workers; Richard Homrighausen, mayor, city of Dover; Paul Allen, senior vice president for corporate affairs, chief environmental officer, Constellation Energy; David Montgomery, vice president, Charles River Associates; and James Yann, managing director, Alstom Power.