EPA's Updated MATS Analysis Could Open Door to New Battle Over Use of Co-Benefits

摘要

The Environmental Protection Agency's final cost and benefit analysis for its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, expected next month, could open the door for new challenges to the agency's practice of including reductions in pollutants that are not directly regulated when tallying the economic impact of rules. With a skeptical Chief Justice John Roberts already questioning the practice, attorneys say the new MATS analysis, required after the U.S. Supreme Court found the agency failed to properly consider compliance costs when issuing the rule, opens up a new front to challenge the use of "co-benefits" when accounting for a rule's impact on public health. The EPA has touted the significant public health benefits provided by reducing pollutants-often particulate matter-that are not directly regulated as part of its greenhouse gas regulations or its new, more stringent ozone standards. A court decision limiting the use of co-benefits could skew the EPA's analysis of its regulations going forward, narrowing the gap between costs to industry and the benefits touted by the agency.