Administrator Wheeler Directs EPA Offices to Reform Cost-Benefit Analysis on Regulations

摘要

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler recently issued a memorandum to assistant administrators directing them to issue new rules on how to consider costs and benefits in the EPA's rulemaking process. In the memorandum, Administrator Wheeler directed the offices of Air and Radiation, Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Land and Emergency Management, and Water to reform cost-benefit considerations for regulatory areas in need of greater clarity, consistency and transparency. Accordingly, Administrator Wheeler provides four principles to guide cost-benefit considerations when developing regulatory proposals: (1) ensure that the offices within the agency balance benefits and costs in regulatory decision-making; (2) increase consistency between EPA offices when interpreting key terms of a statute; (3) EPA offices must provide regulatory analysis transparently identifying which factors they did and did not consider and the weight of these factors when arriving at a particular regulatory outcome; and (4) assistant administrators should adhere to best practices when conducting the technical analysis used to inform decisions. The first new cost-benefit analysis rule will apply to all Clean Air Act (CAA) regulations. Administrator Wheeler expects the agency to propose this new rule by the end of the year.