[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”0″ padding_right=”0″ hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”underline solid” sep_color=”#000000″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Lawmakers and witnesses spar over the way the EPA measures the benefits and costs of its regulations[/title][fusion_text]Friday, October 23rd 2015
Lawmakers and witnesses at a Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee today sparred over the way the EPA measures the benefits and costs of its regulations. Republican committee members argued that the agency routinely overestimates benefits and underestimates costs, while Democrat Edward Markey defended the EPA and said health benefits from EPA rules trump estimated costs. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., presided over the oversight hearing of the Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight, which he chairs. Other senators in attendance at the sparsely attended hearing included James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the full committee; Markey, of Massachusetts, the subcommittee’s ranking member; and fellow subcommittee member David Vitter, R-La. At issue were regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) produced by EPA. Since 1993, RIAs have been required by Executive Order for all rules likely to cost more than $100 million annually. At the hearing, most of the discussion focused on EPA’s air quality regulations – in particular, the Oct. 1 rule setting the standard for ground-level ozone at 70 parts per billion, and the Aug. 3 Clean Power Plan (CPP) final rule, targeting carbon emissions from existing power plants. The EPA-Army Corps of Engineers rule defining “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act also came in for criticism, if only in written testimony from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Farm groups overwhelmingly oppose the WOTUS rule, which was promulgated in May, but whose implementation has since been stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. At least nine lawsuits are pending in seven district courts around the country. A recently released draft OMB report estimates that from 2004-2014, the “major rules” ($100 million in annual costs) issued by cabinet-level agencies cost $68.4 billion to $102.9 billion, while providing benefits of $260.9 billion to $981 billion. The USDA portion of that was a wash — $1 billion to $1.4 billion in costs and the same amount in benefits. Legislation that cleared the House in January — H.R. 185, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015 – would require agencies to undertake more detailed reviews of major regulations. A Senate version of the bill was introduced in August by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. It has six co-sponsors.
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