Administration Wins More Time To Mull 'High Level' Impacts Of SCC Case

摘要

A federal district court has granted the administration's request to extend a deadline - from July 28 to Aug. 27 -for responding to the court on the "high level" policy implications of its first-time ruling criticizing the government's failure to use a social cost of carbon (SCC) value in assessing greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts from coal mining leases. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) recent request for more time to respond to the ruling suggests that federal officials are wrestling with how to reconcile the court's decision with a policy vacuum left by a long-delayed White House guidance on how to incorporate GHG assessments into National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, observers say. NEPA requires agencies to assess and mitigate environmental impacts of their actions. Environmentalists have already said they will push to expand the reach of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado's ruling, seeking SCC analyses in other fossil fuel energy leasing reviews.