Environment · metrics
Environment: EPA drops health-benefit math (what changes in rulemaking)
What changed: EPA says it will stop calculating health care savings / lives saved for certain air pollution rules (per AP).
Why it matters: Cost-benefit framing can shape how aggressive rules are and how they’re defended in court.
Why it matters: Cost-benefit framing can shape how aggressive rules are and how they’re defended in court.
Timeline
2026-01-13
AP reports EPA will stop calculating health savings/lives saved for some rules and emphasize business costs.
Next
Track upcoming rule preambles and RIAs to see where the new method is applied.
What this entry does
It pins a dated claim to a source, then defines what to look for in the primary documents (guidance memos, regulatory impact analyses, final-rule preambles).
What to watch
If EPA’s new framework omits benefits that courts consider legally relevant, expect litigation arguments that the agency acted arbitrarily or ignored key factors.
How to update
When a specific rule is proposed/finalized using the new approach, this entry gets an update line with links and dates.