"Biden’s Greenhouse Gas Climate-Cost Rules Restored, for Now"

"States and companies can’t keep using Trump-era formulas to estimate the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions for future energy and infrastructure projects while they fight over Biden administration calculations that are roughly twice as costly.

The federal appeals court in New Orleans on Wednesday granted the White House’s request to temporarily let federal agencies use Biden’s new cost-benefit analysis rules, which aim to slow climate change by making activities that emit greenhouse gases sharply more expensive.

“The interim estimates on their own do nothing to the plaintiff states,” the judges wrote in a unanimous decision. “The plaintiffs states claims therefore amount to a generalized grievance of how the current administration is considering” the social costs of greenhouse gases.

A Louisiana-based judge appointed by former President Donald Trump in February blocked all federal agencies from relying on Biden’s interim estimate formulas and disbanded his interagency working group of climate advisers."

Laurel Calkins reports for Bloomberg Environment March 16, 2022.

SEE ALSO:

"Appellate Court Rules Biden Can Consider Climate Damage In Policymaking" (Washington Post)

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 03/17/2022