The Supreme Court today began to rein in EPA's regulatory overreach by ruling that EPA must take into consideration costs when it implements rules.
Here are five must read lines from Justice Scalia’s 5-4 majority opinion in Michigan vs. EPA:
1.“EPA refused to consider whether the costs of its decision outweighed the benefits. The Agency gave cost no thought at all, because it considered cost irrelevant to its initial decision to regulate.”
2.“By EPA’s logic, someone could decide whether it is “appropriate” to buy a Ferrari without thinking about cost, because he plans to think about cost later when deciding whether to upgrade the sound system.”
3.“One would not say that it is even rational, never mind “appropriate,” to impose billions of dollars in economic costs in return for a few dollars in health or environmental benefits.”
4.“No regulation is “appropriate” if it does significantly more harm than good.”
5.“it is unreasonable to read an instruction to an administrative agency to determine whether “regulation is appropriate and necessary” as an invitation to ignore cost.”
U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue's reaction to the ruling is available here.