Biden Rulemaking Overhaul Opens Path to Tougher Climate Policies

Proposed changes to the way federal agencies write rules would give the EPA more leeway to issue tougher regulations on air emissions, toxic chemicals, and other environmental harms, legal scholars say.

One of the biggest changes in the White House’s Thursday proposal to update Circular A-4—the federal government’s core guidance document on rule-writing—would more heavily weight regulatory benefits that won’t be fully realized until the distant future, said Rachel Rothschild, an environmental law professor at the University of Michigan Law School.

That shift means ambitious proposals whose benefits lie mostly in the future, potentially including greenhouse gas rules or standards ...