April 30, 2021 Newsletter

New Report on Clean Car Standards and the Energy Efficiency Gap

As the Biden administration works to bolster the United States’ climate commitment, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from the transportation sector will be pivotal. Our new report explains how policymakers can address the energy efficiency gap, which leads consumers to purchase less fuel-efficient vehicles even though vehicles with better gas mileage would save them more money over time. We show how well-designed fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards would address market failures that cause the energy efficiency gap, saving Americans money at the pump while reducing climate and air pollution.

Interior to Review Faulty Trump-Era Fossil Fuels Rule

In the final days of the Trump administration, the Department of the Interior finalized its Valuation Reform and Civil Penalty Rule, lowering the royalty burden on corporations extracting fossil fuels on public lands. Our public comments, which we submitted jointly with partner organizations, helped guide Interior’s decision to delay the effective date of the rule until November. In the coming months, Interior will consider whether to revise or withdraw the rule.

Commentary: Keep Using (and Improving) the Social Cost of Carbon

Following the Biden administration’s call to review and potentially update the social cost of carbon, some observers have argued that the metric is too flawed for use in policymaking. Justin Gundlach and Peter Howard’s piece in The Regulatory Review responds to these criticisms. They detail how the SCC is a viable and legally necessary foundation for U.S. climate policy and affirm the Biden administration’s prudent efforts to improve, rather than abandon, the SCC.

In the News: Restoring Methane Regulations

The Senate voted to overturn a Trump-era rollback of methane emissions regulations by invoking its power under the Congressional Review Act. Richard Revesz spoke with The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times about the CRA disapproval, noting that restoring the regulations could have taken years through the usual rulemaking process.

Oppenheimer’s Impact on Climatology

Over the course of his career, Michael Oppenheimer has played a key role in waking the world up to the threat of climate change. Oppenheimer, who serves as a professor at Princeton University and a member of Policy Integrity’s Advisory Board, remains optimistic about the power of science to effect lasting environmental change. A recent Reuters’ feature takes a close look at his life, research, and immeasurable impact on climatology.

Revesz Discusses Rationality in Governance

Published a dozen years apart, the books Retaking Rationality and Reviving Rationality have established Richard Revesz as a leading evangelist for the use of evidence, expertise, and analysis in federal decisionmaking. In a Q&A with NYU Law News, Revesz discusses the books and considers what lies ahead for rationality in governance.

More from April 2021

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