The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) announced on May 31st the results of an analysis of the relationship between Obama-era environmental regulations and economic factors, particularly employment. Two broad conclusions emerge from this analysis detailed in an EPI briefing paper titled Tallying Up the Impact of New EPA Rules. First, the dollar value of the benefits of the major rules finalized or proposed by the EPA so far during the Obama administration exceeds the rules' costs by an exceptionally wide margin. Health benefits in terms of lives saved and illnesses avoided will be enormous. Second, the costs of all the finalized and proposed rules total to a tiny sliver of the overall economy, suggesting that fears that these rules together will deter economic progress are unjustified.
Expressed in 2010 dollars:
- The combined annual benefits from all final rules exceed their costs by $32 billion to $142 billion a year. The benefit/cost ratio ranges from 4-to-1 to 22-to-1.
- The combined annual benefits from four proposed rules examined here exceed their costs by $160 billion to $440 billion a year. The benefit/cost ratio ranges from 12-to-1 to 32-to-1.
According to EPI, these conclusions refute recent testimony in congressional hearings and related industry statements that certain regulations will damage the economy and lower employment. This new research focused on the combined effects of the major EPA regulations that the Obama administration already finalized as well as the regulations that it has proposed but not finalized.
The Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit Washington D.C. think tank, was created in 1986 to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers. Today, with global competition expanding, wage inequality rising, and the methods and nature of work changing in fundamental ways, it is as crucial as ever that people who work for a living have a voice in the economic discourse.
The EPI study, Tallying Up the Impact of New EPA Rules: Combined Costs of Obama EPA Rules Represent a Sliver of the Economy and Are Far Outweighed by Cumulative Benefits, is available at http://w3.epi-data.org/temp2011/BriefingPaper311.pdf.
