• The White House on Tuesday released new draft guidance for federal agencies to follow, prompting them to make decisions about the social costs and benefits of changes to “ecosystem services” their actions may cause. We encourage you to weave it into your process.
• The guidance could affect rulemaking processes related to major businesses such as mining, agriculture, energy management and infrastructure development.
• “The current administration is taking every opportunity to make it more difficult to build or produce anything in the United States,” Western Energy Alliance Chairman Kathleen Sgamma told the Daily Caller. told the News Foundation.

The White House on Tuesday issued draft guidance that would standardize how federal agencies account for the broader societal impacts caused by ecological change, such as impacts on mental health and “culturally valuable experiences,” in cost-benefit analyses. announced.

of Proposed guidance To ensure that possible changes and their impacts on broader “ecosystem services” are on par with other costs and benefits considered in the regulatory process, such as infrastructure development, mining, energy standards, and energy standards. In addition, it will establish a standard handbook for federal agencies to follow. Agriculture. When assessing costs, this guidance considers natural services such as plant pollination and flood protection, as well as the non-physical impacts that changes to ecosystems can cause (human spirituality, cultural practices, mental (e.g., physical health) to direct government agencies to describe or assign values. Benefits of taking regulatory action.

“The current administration is taking every opportunity to make it more difficult to build or produce anything in the United States,” Western Energy Alliance Chairman Kathleen Sgamma told the Daily Caller. told the News Foundation. “There is a constant effort to elevate vague concepts of environmental justice or, in this case, ‘ecosystem services’, above the products that Americans rely on every day to keep their homes cool and their schools attended. Nonetheless, there is a reason inflation continues to spiral out of control.” ”

According to the wording of the regulation, the guidance directs authorities to calculate or estimate the social costs of changes to ecosystems through a wide range of regulatory measures. Some “ecosystem services” provided by nature, such as clean drinking water, are more easily assigned a dollar value than others, such as their impact on mental health, spiritual practices, recreational opportunities, etc. I have. according to To E&E news. (Related: Biden Administration Removes $182 Billion in New Regulations in a Week)

As we all know, the best way to rebuild the economy is with more regulation https://t.co/kV1SxeWpLm

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 7, 2023

For example, if the mental health impact of a proposed action is quantified or described, it can be counted against the benefits of a proposed construction of facilities used for education, housing, transportation, and certain infrastructure projects. There is a nature. While this guidance leaves room for the positive effects of the change to be factored into the cost-benefit analysis of specific agencies, the Biden administration’s broader efforts to include social impacts in regulatory calculations Costly climate change regulations may be more justified. according to To the April report by E&E News.

The proposed guidance also directs agencies to properly comply withenvironmental justice” and calculate the cost-effectiveness. “Analyzing services where potentially affected populations are underserved communities or where changes in ecosystem services by alternative means may result in disproportionate changes. It is important to include in the

“There is no justice in using environmental regulations to make energy more expensive for low-income Americans,” Sgamma said. “The country already has very strict environmental regulations, but the government is using every new means the bureaucrats can think of to further paperwork American-made products.”

E&E News reported that the draft guidelines could also apply to projects for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to Eli Fenichel, a professor of natural resource economics at Yale University.

“Nature provides us with so much at no cost that these benefits, called ‘ecosystem services,’ are a way for the U.S. government to ensure that regulations and investments are appropriate. The benefits and costs analyzes that have been used for decades are not always fully captured. It has a positive impact on the lives of Americans,” said Richard Leves, Director of the Information Regulatory Authority (OIRA) and Arathi Prabhakar, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), in a blog on Tuesday. director. “Inadequate consideration of nature’s bounty has led to the undervaluation and erosion of our country’s natural assets.”

However, the proposed guidance could consume more administrative resources and increase regulatory office hours. The guidance may also open new opportunities for legal action against government agencies for groups that disagree with the evaluation of ecosystem services such as mental health and spirituality.

The guidelines “are nothing more than an excuse to say ‘no’ to human use of large areas of the United States, including the state of Nevada, where the federal government owns 87% of the land, and new permits for lawsuits and delays.” Dan Kish said. A senior research scientist at the Institute for Energy told DCNF. He went on to say, “Unfortunately, that means America is even poorer, but they’re going to use this device to tell people that poverty is better.” It is out of control,” he said.

The White House and OSTP did not respond to requests for comment.

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