The EPA’s final rule changing how federal government calculates the costs and benefits of mercury and other toxic air pollutants foreshadows an approach for future air regulations, Administrator Andrew Wheeler said.
The changes mean the Environmental Protection Agency would no longer be able to count additional “co-benefits” due to airborne particle pollution when it sets limits on toxic air pollutants such as mercury. Environmental groups and Democrats have assailed the changes and promised a court battle.
“It foreshadows our approach for cost-benefit regulation, where we focus on the targeted pollutants,” Wheeler told reporters late Thursday. “Co-benefits should never be the ...