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ARTICLE · 01 NOVEMBER 2011

Who's Afraid Of Cost-Benefit Analysis?

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E&E Daily reported this week that Congressional Democrats are opposing the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011.

United StatesEnvironment
Seth Jaffe
Seth Jaffe
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E&E Daily reported this week that Congressional Democrats are opposing the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011. H.R. 3010 would codify a requirement for cost-benefit analysis of major regulations in the Administrative Procedures Act. According to the report, John Conyers, ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee stated that the RAA

would amend the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that would effectively halt agency rulemaking and undermine public health and safety rules.

Excuse me?

The guts of the RAA would be to:

  • Require cost-benefit analysis for all rules expected to cost more than $100,000,000
  • Require cost-effectiveness for rules going beyond statutory minimum requirements – If EPA wants to impose rules that would cost more than the minimum requirements necessary to implement a statutory requirement, it must demonstrate that the marginal cost of the increased stringency is outweighed by the marginal benefit.

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