INTRODUCTION On June 11, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to increase the consistency and transparency in considering benefits and costs in the Clean Air Act (CAA) rulemaking process.1 To achieve these objectives, the NOPR proposes three main requirements:
- Codify the preparation of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) for all future significant proposed and final regulations under the CAA.
- Develop BCA in accordance with best practices from the economic, engineering, physical and biological sciences.
- Increase transparency in the presentation of the benefits resulting from significant CAA regulations. The proposal also solicits comment on additional considerations.
In particular, this includes how the EPA would consider BCA results in future rulemaking under specific CAA provisions, and how the EPA should weigh BCA results in CAA decisions.