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EPA Administrator Wheeler Sends Cost-Benefit Analysis Memo to Assistant Administrators

Memo Directs Agency Leaders To Reform How Costs and Benefits Are Considered in Our Rulemaking Process

WASHINGTON (May 21, 2019)  – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed a recent memo directing agency leadership to develop rules for notice and comment that outline how benefit-cost considerations will be applied to future rulemakings. This action supports the Trump Administration’s efforts to identify regulations that impose costs that exceed benefits, providing clarity, transparency and consistency in how regulations are written.

Administrator Wheeler outlines the following principles be followed in developing the regulatory proposals:

• Ensuring the agency balances benefits and costs in regulatory decision-making.
   

• Increasing consistency in the interpretation of statutory terminology.
   

• Providing transparency in the weight assigned to various factors in regulatory decisions.
   

• Promoting adherence to best practices in conducting the technical analysis used to inform decisions.

A link to the memo is available here on EPA’s website.