Pulling into your neighborhood convenience store is something most of us do regularly without a second thought. But behind fueling your car or truck and grabbing a snack is a vast network of suppliers, distributors and workers that make it possible. Fuel retailers and convenience stores are a critical part of Nevada’s economy, with more than 1,200 stores in every county employing over 18,000 people. These local businesses keep our state moving and support the visitors who power our tourism economy.
That’s why a sweeping new European Union regulation, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, or CS3D, deserves closer attention at home. While CS3D aims to promote corporate accountability, its far-reaching requirements impose unnecessary costs and obstacles on U.S. companies, with real consequences for Nevada.
The directive requires many large companies, including those located in the United States and complying with U.S. laws, to identify and report their environmental and human rights impacts across their operations and suppliers. For industries such as fuel distribution and retail, that creates a real challenge. Most convenience stores are small, family-owned businesses with broad supply chains involving the production, refining, transportation and storage of gasoline, along with the delivery of packaged goods across multiple entities.
Yet CS3D could subject them to extensive new paperwork requiring them to track and report activities across many suppliers. A recent Hudson Institute analysis underscores what is at stake, estimating that between 680,000 and 865,000 American jobs could be at risk and nearly $1 trillion drained from the U.S. economy through compliance costs and supply chain disruptions.
At the local level, the impact is even more alarming. The research projects that CS3D could cost Nevada nearly 5,000 jobs and reduce Nevada worker pay by more than $400 million. The one-time costs of complying with CS3D are expected to approach $3.5 billion for our state alone. With over 59,000 Nevada small businesses operating in the industries most vulnerable to these regulations, absorbing these complicated rules will not be financially viable for many local operators.
These costs will be passed to consumers through higher prices at gas stations and other Nevada businesses. In a state where tourism, logistics and travel are central to the economy, those ripple effects can hit especially hard. Higher fuel and operating costs can influence travel decisions, increase prices for visitors and put additional pressure on local businesses that depend on steady traffic.
None of this suggests businesses should not operate responsibly. American companies already follow strong federal and state environmental and labor standards, and many go beyond them. But there is a clear difference between common-sense accountability and a sweeping foreign mandate attempting to govern complex global supply chains from afar.
Policies such as CS3D risk creating obligations that are difficult to implement, particularly for industries like ours. They add costs without improving outcomes and shift decision-making away from the local communities most affected.
This is why we need our leaders in Washington to step up. The Protect USA Act, which would prohibit American companies from being required to comply with CS3D, could receive a committee hearing this summer. Sen. Jacky Rosen, through her position on the Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto are in a strong position to support this legislation and defend Nevada’s economy. The rules that shape our markets should be written by the people we elect, not regulators an ocean away.
Fuel retailers keep people moving, goods flowing and communities connected. To protect that role and the thousands of Nevada jobs that come with it, our policies must support businesses, not burden them.
At a time when businesses are managing costs and consumers are watching prices closely, adding new regulatory burdens is not a small decision. Something as simple as filling your tank should not come with costs driven by decisions made half a world away.
Miranda Hoover is executive director of the Energy & Convenience Association of Nevada.
Comment
Comments