Recent history in Pennsylvania has shown that it’s possible to grow our energy economy and make important environmental gains. During my time as secretary of our state’s Department of Environmental Protection, for example, Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry grew significantly, created unprecedented job growth and lowered costs for consumers, while harmful methane emissions dropped more than 75% over the past decade.
Historically the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has had an inconsistent track record when it comes to properly weighing the impact of its decisions the economy. In the past, EPA has regulated matters with inaccurate analysis of the supposed benefits of proposed regulation and insufficient or inaccurate analysis of the costs of its regulation. This problem has become particularly acute by associating so-called “co-benefits” or “ancillary benefits” to regulations which results in overstating public health benefits from a particular regulation. I have written, for example, of EPA water quality standards that impose extraordinary costs while creating minimal measurable environmental or public health gains.