AF&PA Applauds EPA Proposal to Balance Benefits and Costs of Air Quality Regulations

CONTACT: Tim Ebner / Lindsay Murphy
(202) 463-2587, comm@afandpa.org

WASHINGTON – The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Heidi Brock issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement of a proposed rulemaking (EPA-HQ-OAR-2020-00044) on how EPA considers benefits and costs in designing regulations under the Clean Air Act. The proposal requests public comment on how EPA can be more consistent and transparent in considering the best available scientific and technical information on societal benefits and costs when crafting its air quality regulations. EPA is requesting public comment for 45 days from the publication of the proposed rule.

“For over 39 years, every president has directed important regulatory agencies such as EPA to carefully consider the best available information in designing regulations and to ensure that the benefits of those regulations justify the costs. We applaud this important EPA initiative to advance this longstanding, bipartisan principle when developing regulations to protect air quality. Common-sense regulatory policy that ensures regulations do more good than harm will protect the environment, strengthen regulatory certainty and economic recovery and create opportunities for all Americans, now and in the future. We look forward to working together with the administration and stakeholders to achieve these shared goals.”