Eighteen AGs Filed Comments on EPA Proposal That Would Distort Cost-Benefit Analyses for Clean Air Act Rulemakings

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 18 attorneys general in filing comments in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to establish a one-size-fits-all approach to cost-benefit analyses for Clean Air Act rulemakings. The comments emphasized that the proposal improperly ignores the different approaches prescribed by the statute for its various programs, and is based on a “false premise that uniformity across these disparate provisions is lawful and possible.” The comments also highlighted the proposal’s “impracticable and unlawful” treatment of co-benefits, and its “woefully inadequate” discussion of greenhouse gas emissions and the social cost of carbon—a particularly glaring gap given the EPA’s “demonstrated lack of transparency and consistency” in this area.