HOUSE TO CONSIDER BILL REQUIRING DOE APPROVAL FOR EPA REGS

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
7/26/13

The House of Representatives is set to consider a bill next week that would require the Department of Energy to sign off on all major energy-related Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The House will also vote on amendments that have been offered to the bill related to EPA’s use of scientific data and social cost of carbon estimates. The “Energy Consumers Relief Act” would bar EPA from finalizing any major energy-related regulations if the Secretary of Energy deems they could have “significant adverse effects” on the economy. The measure would require EPA to submit a report to Congress and the Energy Secretary detailing a rule’s cost and impacts on energy prices and employment ahead of promulgation if it has an estimated regulatory cost of more than $1 billion. The Secretary of Energy would then be required to determine how each rule would impact energy prices, fuel diversity and local electric reliability and decide whether the regulation could have “significant adverse effects” on the economy.

The measure cleared the House Rules Committee this week with several amendments in tow, including one from Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) that would require EPA to make all data and documents relied upon by the Agency to develop regulations publicly available. Another submitted by Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) would prohibit the Agency from using recently-increased government social cost of carbon (SCC) estimates for its cost-benefit analyses. The provision would instead require EPA to promulgate an SCC as a traditional rulemaking, which would require public comment and review. Republicans have sharply criticized the intergovernmental coalition that altered the SCC estimates for failing to consider public input. 

The House is also expected to consider multiple amendments submitted by Democrats that would chip away at the bill’s authority. One from Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) would block DOE from “effectively veto[ing] EPA rules.” Another provision from Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.) would block the bill from applying to air and water-related regulations.

White House Issues Veto Threat

While the measure is expected to cruise through the House, it is likely dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate. The White House also issued a veto threat of the bill this week. In a July 23 Statement of Administration Policy, the White House said the bill would force DOE to “undertake duplicative, costly and time consuming reviews” of EPA regulations that would delay or “permanently prevent” EPA from carrying out its responsibilities. “Existing law already requires agencies to submit cost-benefit analysis to the Congress of any rule costing over $100 million annually,” the White House said. “[The bill] would require agencies to waste limited analytical resources on a duplicative analysis. Further, by indefinitely delaying the implementation of existing public health and environmental laws, the bill would harm communities affected by pollution.” A Congressional Budget Office estimate of the measure released earlier this week said the legislation would cost $35 million to implement between 2014 and 2018.