§777 Economic Analysis of Proposed Actions

Summary

The Administrator must check and think about the likely economic effects before making rules or other actions. The review must cover nine areas, including state and local government budgets, key industries, jobs at national and local levels, regional economic health, prices and supply of goods, gross national product, low- and middle-income families (as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics), competition, and small businesses. The Administrator must also study how conservation steps would affect states or big industry sectors, including energy used as fuel and as industrial feedstock. The reviews should be clear and done with help from federal, state, and local experts, and other agencies must cooperate. These actions do not create any new right to sue beyond what the law already allows. The Administrator, with the Secretaries of Labor and Commerce, must watch the economic effects of energy actions and send Congress a yearly report on the impact and any needed job or economic aid. Actions must not unfairly hurt any industry or region and should spread the costs of energy shortages as fairly as possible.