OMB Seeks Input on Social Costs of Greenhouse Gases

Public comments are due next week concerning a new technical document that details the “social costs of greenhouse gases” that the Federal government uses to estimate the benefits of new air regulations.

Interim estimates of the social cost of carbon, methane, and nitrous oxide are “used to estimate the value to society of marginal reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, or conversely, the social costs of increasing such emissions.”

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is seeking comments from stakeholders and the public on the interim technical document, as well as input on how to incorporate “the latest peer-reviewed science and economics literature” to develop an updated set of greenhouse gas cost estimates.  

Public comments are due before June 21, 2021. if you would like to participate in the process, you can submit a comment through the Federal Rulemaking Portal at regulations.gov. 

Why the OMB Wants Data

To perform a cost-benefit analysis of new air quality regulations, the government must consider both the costs to industry and the potential environmental and health benefits of a new rule. The benefits are often more abstract (and difficult to quantify) than costs like new equipment, more air quality monitoring, or new reporting burdens.

OMB Directed by Executive Order 13990

On January 20, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order (EO) 13990 titled “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.”

This EO outlined stronger environmental action, including the reformation of the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases under OMB, the group tasked with monetizing the social impact of greenhouse gases for use during cost-benefit analysis.

Clean Air Act Online Training

As EPA works to determine the costs of greenhouse gases, the cost of environmental compliance violations just went up again.  Violations of the Clean Air Act can now cost your facility up to $102,638 per day, per violation. 

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Tags: Clean Air Act, environmental compliance, GHG, greenhouse gas