§7617 Economic impact assessment

Summary

Before proposing certain air-pollution rules, the EPA Administrator must prepare an economic impact assessment. It applies to seven kinds of rules, including new source performance standards, some ozone and stratosphere rules, prevention-of-significant-deterioration rules, emission standards for mobile sources, fuel controls, and aircraft emissions. The assessment must go into the public rulemaking file and be available to the public. The proposed rule must say where the assessment can be found and explain how the agency used it. The final rule must give that same explanation in its official explanation. The assessment must, as fully as practicable given EPA’s time and resources, analyze: compliance costs and how they may change with the rule’s start date or new cheaper methods; possible inflationary or recessionary effects; effects on competition for small businesses; effects on consumer costs; and effects on energy use. Preparing the assessment does not change how rules are legally set, does not limit EPA’s duty to protect health, and does not let courts pause or block a rule just because the assessment wasn’t done. Citizens may sue to force EPA to prepare the assessment, and disobeying a court order can lead to contempt. Courts may consider the assessment’s quality when a law requires costs be considered, but the assessment is not conclusive proof.