IIB 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1582 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

AN ACT 

To protect consumers by prohibiting the Administrator of 

the Environmental Protection Agency from promulgating 

as final certain energy-related rules that are estimated 

to cost more than $1 billion and will cause significant 

adverse effects to the economy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Energy Consumers Re3 lief Act of 2013’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION AGAINST FINALIZING CERTAIN EN5 ERGY-RELATED RULES THAT WILL CAUSE 

6 SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE EFFECTS TO THE 

7 ECONOMY. 

8 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Ad9 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may 

10 not promulgate as final an energy-related rule that is esti11 mated to cost more than $1 billion if the Secretary of En12 ergy determines under section 3(3) that the rule will cause 

13 significant adverse effects to the economy. 

14 SEC. 3. REPORTS AND DETERMINATIONS PRIOR TO PRO15 MULGATING AS FINAL CERTAIN ENERGY-RE16 LATED RULES. 

17 Before promulgating as final any energy-related rule 

18 that is estimated to cost more than $1 billion: 

19 (1) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator 

20 of the Environmental Protection Agency shall sub21 mit to Congress a report (and transmit a copy to the 

22 Secretary of Energy) containing— 

23 (A) a copy of the rule; 

24 (B) a concise general statement relating to 

25 the rule; 


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1 (C) an estimate of the total costs of the 

2 rule, including the direct costs and indirect 

3 costs of the rule; 

4 (D)(i) an estimate of the total benefits of 

5 the rule and when such benefits are expected to 

6 be realized; 

7 (ii) a description of the modeling, the cal8 culations, the assumptions, and the limitations 

9 due to uncertainty, speculation, or lack of infor10 mation associated with the estimates under this 

11 subparagraph; and 

12 (iii) a certification that all data and docu13 ments relied upon by the Agency in developing 

14 such estimates— 

15 (I) have been preserved; and 

16 (II) are available for review by the 

17 public on the Agency’s Web site, except to 

18 the extent to which publication of such 

19 data and documents would constitute dis20 closure of confidential information in viola21 tion of applicable Federal law; 

22 (E) an estimate of the increases in energy 

23 prices, including potential increases in gasoline 

24 or electricity prices for consumers, that may reVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:53 Sep 09, 2013 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1582.RFS H1582

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1 sult from implementation or enforcement of the 

2 rule; and 

3 (F) a detailed description of the employ4 ment effects, including potential job losses and 

5 shifts in employment, that may result from im6 plementation or enforcement of the rule. 

7 (2) INITIAL DETERMINATION ON INCREASES

8 AND IMPACTS.—The Secretary of Energy, in con9 sultation with the Federal Energy Regulatory Com10 mission and the Administrator of the Energy Infor11 mation Administration, shall prepare an independent 

12 analysis to determine whether the rule will cause— 

13 (A) any increase in energy prices for con14 sumers, including low-income households, small 

15 businesses, and manufacturers; 

16 (B) any impact on fuel diversity of the Na17 tion’s electricity generation portfolio or on na18 tional, regional, or local electric reliability; 

19 (C) any adverse effect on energy supply, 

20 distribution, or use due to the economic or tech21 nical infeasibility of implementing the rule; or 

22 (D) any other adverse effect on energy 

23 supply, distribution, or use (including a short24 fall in supply and increased use of foreign sup25 plies). 


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1 (3) SUBSEQUENT DETERMINATION ON ADVERSE

2 EFFECTS TO THE ECONOMY.—If the Secretary of 

3 Energy determines, under paragraph (2), that the 

4 rule will cause an increase, impact, or effect de5 scribed in such paragraph, then the Secretary, in 

6 consultation with the Administrator of the Environ7 mental Protection Agency, the Secretary of Com8 merce, the Secretary of Labor, and the Adminis9 trator of the Small Business Administration, shall— 

10 (A) determine whether the rule will cause 

11 significant adverse effects to the economy, tak12 ing into consideration— 

13 (i) the costs and benefits of the rule 

14 and limitations in calculating such costs 

15 and benefits due to uncertainty, specula16 tion, or lack of information; and 

17 (ii) the positive and negative impacts 

18 of the rule on economic indicators, includ19 ing those related to gross domestic prod20 uct, unemployment, wages, consumer 

21 prices, and business and manufacturing ac22 tivity; and 

23 (B) publish the results of such determina24 tion in the Federal Register. 


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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) The terms ‘‘direct costs’’ and ‘‘indirect 

4 costs’’ have the meanings given such terms in chap5 ter 8 of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 

6 ‘‘Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses’’ 

7 dated December 17, 2010. 

8 (2) The term ‘‘energy-related rule that is esti9 mated to cost more than $1 billion’’ means a rule of 

10 the Environmental Protection Agency that— 

11 (A) regulates any aspect of the production, 

12 supply, distribution, or use of energy or pro13 vides for such regulation by States or other gov14 ernmental entities; and 

15 (B) is estimated by the Administrator of 

16 the Environmental Protection Agency or the 

17 Director of the Office of Management and 

18 Budget to impose direct costs and indirect 

19 costs, in the aggregate, of more than 

20 $1,000,000,000. 

21 (3) The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning given to 

22 such term in section 551 of title 5, United States 

23 Code. 


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1 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON USE OF SOCIAL COST OF CARBON 

2 IN ANALYSIS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi4 sion of law or any executive order, the Administrator of 

5 the Environmental Protection Agency may not use the so6 cial cost of carbon in order to incorporate social benefits 

7 of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, or for any other rea8 son, in any cost-benefit analysis relating to an energy-re9 lated rule that is estimated to cost more than $1 billion 

10 unless and until a Federal law is enacted authorizing such 

11 use. 

12 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘social 

13 cost of carbon’’ means the social cost of carbon as de14 scribed in the technical support document entitled ‘‘Tech15 nical Support Document: Technical Update of the Social 

16 Cost of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis Under Ex17 ecutive Order 12866’’, published by the Interagency 

18 Working Group on Social Cost of Carbon, United States 

19 Government, in May 2013, or any successor or substan20 tially related document, or any other estimate of the 


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1 monetized damages associated with an incremental in2 crease in carbon dioxide emissions in a given year. 

Passed the House of Representatives August 1, 

2013. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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