Lamar Smith: “The amendment carves out of the bill essential sectors or regulation and guidance. These include all rules and guidance…”

“The amendment carves out of the bill essential sectors or regulation and guidance. These include all rules and guidance documents on food safety, workplace safety, consumer product safety, clean water, and clean air. In many cases, these are precisely the agency actions that impose the most cost without producing enough benefits. A good example is the Environmental Protection Agency's recent proposal to control mercury emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants. EPA estimated that the rule would cost $11 billion annually to achieve; at most, just $6 million in total mercury reduction benefits. That's a cost-to-benefit ratio of almost 1,200:1. Proponents of regulation have nothing to fear from the bill's provisions to prevent excessively costly rules like this. The bill always allows agencies to achieve the statutory objectives Congress has set. Those objectives include protection of food, workplace, and consumer safety, as well as of clean air and clean water. All the bill requires is that agencies consider the cost and benefits of regulatory alternatives and, wherever possible, adopt the least-cost regulation that achieves that goal. If a costlier rule's benefits justify its additional cost and the rule is needed to protect public health, safety, and welfare, the agency may adopt it.…”