WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and James Lankford (R-Okla.) today introduced the Transparency and Honesty in Energy Regulations Act, a bill to prohibit the federal government from using the flawed social cost of carbon, social cost of methane, social cost of nitrous oxide, or the social cost of any other greenhouse gas metrics in the rulemaking process.

“In West Virginia, we know all too well the negative impact of burdensome regulations on our energy producers, including coal and natural gas,” Senator Capito said. “With a troubling lack of transparency, the Biden administration seeks to apply an obscure figure, known as the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, to justify these costly, job-killing regulations. The Transparency and Honesty in Energy Regulations Act would prevent federal agencies from future overreach through opaque and overstated cost analyses. This comes at a critical time as Americans are facing skyrocketing energy costs and runaway inflation and the Biden administration continues to stifle American energy production, citing these very same ‘social cost’ figures. I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this legislation that would enable West Virginia to remain a key energy-producing state in the years to come.”

Senators Capito and Lankford were joined in introducing the bill by Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.), and Jim Risch (R-Idaho).

The legislation would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy, the Interior Department, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), from using the social cost of carbon, social cost of methane, and social cost of nitrous oxide as rationales for their regulations.

These social cost of greenhouse gas (SC-GHG) metrics are theoretical measurements to try to put a hypothetical price or economic impact on emissions. The cost estimate has been used in the federal government to assess the economic impact of potential federal regulations.

For the full text of the Transparency and Honesty in Energy Regulations Act, click here.

BACKGROUND:

Senator Capito has repeatedly called out the Biden administration for its lack of transparency in implementing regulations based on the SC-GHG.

In May 2022, Senator Capito, along with the Republican leaders of other key committees, wrote a letter to the Biden administration’s “Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases” co-chairs, seeking information and transparency on the group’s role in developing environmental policy.

It was Senator Capito’s fourth request to the administration for increased transparency on SC-GHG. This includes a letter sent by Senator Capito and House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.-05) in March 2022 to EPA Administrator Michael Regan requesting transparency and information on EPA’s use of SC-GHG.

Senator Capito also recently applauded the Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA, which held that the Clean Air Act does not provide EPA the authority to cap greenhouse gas emissions. The Clean Power Plan in question was based in part on the flawed social cost of carbon metric.

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