The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule updating the MATS (mercury and air toxics) limits for certain fossil-fuel-fired power plants (the Rule) in May 2024. These limits were issued pursuant to Section 112(d)(6) of the Clean Air Act. Section 112(d)(6) gives EPA authority to update regulations based on improvements in processes and control technologies. Policy Integrity submitted an amicus brief in merits litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (D.C. Circuit). In response to Petitioners’ false assertions that the Rule has no public health benefits and EPA improperly considered the costs and benefits of the Rule, Policy Integrity's amicus brief addresses:
- The distinction between the analysis of statutory factors that EPA used to set the stringency of the regulation and the analysis of costs and benefits that EPA completed to comply with Executive Order 12,866.
- The appropriateness of EPA’s regulatory impact analysis (RIA). EPA’s RIA properly included the unquantified benefits from reducing mercury and other air toxics emissions as well as the additional benefits from reducing other types of pollution. This approach is consistent with best analytical practice, case law, executive guidance, and long-standing agency practice.
- The evidence in EPA’s RIA that the Rule will achieve unquantified public health, environmental, and economic benefits from reducing air toxics emissions. EPA’s analysis shows that these benefits can be substantial even though they are unquantified and that EPA likely underestimated the emission reductions of the Rule.
In sum, Policy Integrity’s brief shows that EPA appropriately considered the full scope of important regulatory effects, including the unquantified benefits, when concluding that the Rule is a worthwhile exercise of the EPA’s authority.
Policy Integrity has long advocated for proper recognition of unquantified and additional benefits in regulatory proceedings and litigation concerning the MATS.