On Thursday, the White House released an executive order reducing the number of regulations that undergo a more rigorous White House review and promoting public participation from previously underrepresented groups at its Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
It also released new draft guidance that changes how agencies calculate the cost and benefits of such rules, with more emphasis placed on the future.
Billy Pizer, vice president for research and policy engagement at Resources for the Future — an energy and environment focused research organization — described the changes as a “pretty major overhaul.”
In particular, this could lead to both more regulations and regulations that are more protective.
“It does create more space for agencies to regulate more and…to [make] more protective regulations,” said James Goodwin, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform.
Pizer said that the provision that gives more weight to events that happen in the future is particularly important for climate change regulations.
“This is a huge issue for climate change because we have to reduce emissions now but the consequence of those reduced emissions are spread over centuries,” he said.
Read more about the announcement at TheHill.com
