NEW REPORT COULD PRESSURE EPA ON COST-EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS

A new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) could bolster White House efforts to encourage EPA to adopt cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) -- a controversial technique for assessing regulatory benefits. But the agency could face hurdles because the report stops short of providing detailed recommendations on several key ethical and environmental issues. An EPA official says the agency is unlikely to adopt the approach on a widespread basis until after officials are better able to address criticisms that the approach...