EPA Rescission of Trump-era Cost-Benefit Rule is an Important Step Forward

The EPA has moved to rescind the Trump-era cost-benefit rule.

Hayden Hashimoto, CATF Staff Attorney said:

“We are pleased to see another pullback of a Trump EPA rule that was designed to impair efforts to protect public health and the environment.  EPA’s action is an important step toward clearing away another Trump midnight rule that put a finger on the scale to favor industry concerns over public protections in Clean Air Act rules by treating inconsistently or discounting the benefits of action as compared with costs of compliance for Clean Air Act requirements. 

“Going forward, in order to achieve EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment, the Agency should consider and weigh all relevant costs and benefits, including those that are non-monetizable, eschewing mandates for any particular form of analysis, particularly where that is not supported by statute and Congressional intent.  Rather than searching for excuses for inaction, such as focusing excessively on monetized effects and excluding or devaluing the indirect benefits of environmental protections, we encourage the Agency to develop solutions of appropriate scale and ambition to tackle the many difficult problems it faces, particularly addressing climate change, clean air, and environmental justice issues.”