By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will release on Thursday a proposed overhaul of how costs and benefits factored in its major clean air rule-makings, a move that would affect the stringency of future regulations.
The proposed benefit-cost analysis would focus on weighing the economic impact of a proposed rule without factoring in the public health benefits that have previously been used to justify expansive regulations, according to a fact sheet circulated ahead of the announcement on Thursday.
“EPA anticipates significant regulations will include those with the largest annual impact on the economy; those that would disproportionately affect an industry, group, or area; or those that are novel or relevant for other policy reasons,” according to the fact sheet.
In April, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler withdrew the legal justification for an Obama-era rule that forced coal-fired power plants to cut their mercury emissions https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-coal-mercury/trump-administration-weakens-mercury-rule-for-coal-plants-idUSKCN21Y1IW, saying the cost of compliance far outweighed the public health benefits.
He said at that time stripping away other factors used by the Obama administration meant to do its cost-benefit analysis of mercury regulations, such as how the rule would also cut particulate matter and other harmful substances that come out of smoke-stacks, was a “more honest accounting.”
The proposed changes will also require making underlying data used in rule-makings available to the public.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; editing by Diane Craft)
