
The Trump Administrationâs Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revisiting the âsocial cost of carbonâ metric used by the Biden administration to foist costly regulations on the American economy, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
The âsocial cost of carbonâ is the government-determined economic cost to society per unit of carbon dioxide emissions, and it is considered a powerful regulatory tool because of its immense impact on cost-benefit analyses that underpin emissions rules and regulations. The Biden administration estimated that the âsocial cost of carbonâ is approximately $190 per ton, but new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says that the agency will be reevaluating the metric and its use in line with President Donald Trumpâs day-one âUnleashing American Energyâ executive order.
âThe Biden-Harris Administrationâs so-called âsocial cost of carbonâ measurement was used to advance their climate agenda in a way that imposed major costs. To Power the Great American Comeback, we are fully committed to removing regulations holding back the U.S.,â Zeldin said in a statement obtained by the DCNF.
Trumpâs executive order specifically instructed the EPA to evaluate the possibility of scrapping the âsocial cost of carbonâ metric from the regulatory space altogether within 60 days. Zeldin and the EPA are now officially revisiting the matter, with Zeldinâs statement implying that the agency may look to eliminate it altogether, though it is currently unclear what the overhaul may ultimately look like if implemented.
In a Wednesday post to X teasing the announcement, Zeldin wrote that âtoday is going to be the most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history.â
The âUnleashing American Energyâ executive order characterized the metric as âmarked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation.â The Obama administration was the first to incorporate the âsocial cost of carbonâ into the regulatory state, according to Stanford Report.
The first Trump administration estimated that the âsocial cost of carbonâ was somewhere between $1 and $6 per ton of carbon dioxide, a far cry from the $51 estimate put forth by the Obama administration, according to Columbia Universityâs Global Center for Energy Policy.
Zeldin and the Trump EPA have been keeping themselves busy as they roll back the Biden EPAâs regulations and grant programs, including a Tuesday evening announcement that the agency is terminating grant agreements for $20 billion in grants that the Biden EPA doled out to pass-through green groups laden with Democrat insiders and donors.
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