WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), sent a letter in support of efforts to review past burdensome regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The letter was addressed to the Honorable Samantha Dravis, the regulatory reform officer and associate administrator for policy at EPA.

The letter was also signed by Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

Due to President Trump’s Executive Order 13777, the EPA has begun a review of current EPA regulations to determine whether any should be repealed, replaced, or modified. EPA invited comments on its approach by May 15, 2017. 

In today’s letter, the Senators explain that EPA needs to revisit regulations based on faulty cost-benefit analyses: “We write to support ongoing efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement these Executive Orders…. In particular, we request you review all EPA regulations that rely on either the ‘social cost of carbon’ or ‘co-benefits’ to justify the cost burden the regulations place on the American economy.”

Further, the Senators note that the EPA should evaluate whether the agency complied with mandatory statutory review processes when it issued past regulations. “The committee has documented failures with EPA’s implementation of mandatory review processes intended to evaluate and curb the potential negative impacts of federal regulation. These include those required by the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (state, local, and tribal governments and private sector) and the Regulatory Flexibility Act (small businesses and other entities).”

Read the full letter here.

Background Information:

On May 12, 2017, the State of Wyoming also filed a letter to Associate Administrator Dravis recommending areas of focus as EPA undertakes its review.  

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