EPA POLICY CHIEF EYES CONTENTIOUS METHOD TO ESTIMATE RULES' BENEFITS

EPA's policy office chief is urging staff economists to adopt a controversial method of assessing the financial benefits of preserving segments of people's lives rather than entire lives, which could dramatically reduce EPA's ability to justify regulations under cost-benefit tests, sources say. The directive is part of deliberations over an EPA-wide effort to revise the agency's internal guidelines for placing dollar values on prevented cases of illness and death resulting from EPA rules, analyses which accompany regulatory proposals and are...