Today, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its finalized rule for cost-benefit analysis (CBA) on future rules pertaining to the Clean Air Act. NTU applauds the EPA and Administrator Andrew Wheeler for this rule to bring more accountability and transparency to this important agency.
“This well-tailored rule from EPA Administrator Wheeler will serve to make the EPA’s use of cost-benefit analysis more transparent and more effective,” said NTU Government Affairs Manager Thomas Aiello. “The new processes will better serve taxpayers and businesses in the consideration and implementation of new environmental rules.”
NTU has long favored increased utilization of cost-benefit analysis to be integrated into rulemaking across all government bureaucracies - and this new rule will ensure the transparency necessary for cost-benefit analysis to serve taxpayer interests.
As NTU outlined during the EPA’s public comment period:
The use of CBA is one of the most important tools in a regulator’s toolbox. It is a primary tool to address the overarching question of why should we regulate and how far should the regulation go. Environmental protection must be top of mind for this agency - and NTU supports regulations to achieve this outcome - but these “benefits” must be weighed against the “costs” of operations critical to national economic vitality.
To discuss the new rule from the EPA with an expert from the National Taxpayers Union, and why these kinds of rule reforms serve transparency and fiscal accountability in the federal government, please contact Kevin Glass, NTU Vice President of Communications, at 703-299-8670 or at kglass@ntu.org