Recent Projects

Policy Integrity submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency on its proposed performance standards for greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants. To help maximize the net benefits of the proposed standards and to ensure their solid legal foundation, Policy Integrity made the following recommendations:

Policy Integrity submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the agency’s proposed 2014 standards for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. EPA proposes to reduce renewable fuel targets from 2013 levels, due to concerns regarding industry’s ability to produce sufficient quantities of qualifying fuel and consumers’ ability to use the fuel. This backsliding highlights the RFS program’s inability to guarantee steady reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

On January 10, Policy Integrity, along with New York University’s Guarini Center, submitted comments on Con Edison’s Storm Hardening and Resilience Collaborative Report. The comments urge New York’s Public Service Commission (PSC) to extend the charter of the cost-benefit analysis working group convened as part of the collaborative process surrounding Con Edison’s latest ratemaking proceeding.

The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) Committee on Judicial Review accepted a recommendation made by Policy Integrity on remand without vacatur.

Policy Integrity submitted comments on the draft statement by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) Committees on Administration and Management, and Regulation, for improving the timeliness, transparency, and effectiveness of the regulatory review process of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

Policy Integrity submitted comments on draft recommendations by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) Committee on Judicial Review for remand without vacatur in which a court returns a regulation to an agency for revision. This is an improvement to the traditional approach of annulling an agency action outright, which can result in creating an antiregulatory bias. But the draft recommendations could be strengthened in three ways:

Policy Integrity, along with Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Union of Concerned Scientists, submitted comments on the social cost of carbon (SCC) within a rule proposed by the Department of Energy regarding energy conservation for commercial refrigeration equipment. The SCC calculation is an estimate of the damage caused by each ton of carbon emissions and used in the cost-benefit analyses of regulations with greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

Policy Integrity, along with the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, submitted comments on the social cost of carbon. The calculation—an estimate of the damage caused by each ton of carbon emissions—was used in a rule proposed by the Department of Energy regarding energy conservation from metal halide lamp fixtures. The joint comments show that according to cutting-edge economic research, the estimate used by the government may be too low.

HUD has implemented several recommendations outlined in a regulatory report published by the Institute for Policy Integrity in the proposed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. By incorporating our recommendations, HUD has more clearly defined its goals in “affirmatively furthering fair housing,” and has provided metrics and data that municipalities can use to measure their compliance.

The Obama Administration is poised to improve worker safety by establishing a nationwide Injury and Illness Prevention Program. But unless it is well designed, the program will leave too many vulnerable to unsafe work conditions.