II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 156 

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 $1,000,000,000 and will cause 

significant adverse effects to the economy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 13, 2015 

Mr. CASSIDY (for himself and Mr. HELLER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

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 $1,000,000,000 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Energy Consumers Re5 lief Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ3 mental Protection Agency. 

4 (2) DIRECT COSTS.—The term ‘‘direct costs’’ 

5 has the meaning given the term in chapter 8 of the 

6 report of the Environmental Protection Agency enti7 tled ‘‘Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses’’ 

8 and dated December 17, 2010. 

9 (3) ENERGY-RELATED RULE THAT IS ESTI10 MATED TO COST MORE THAN $1,000,000,000.—The 

11 term ‘‘energy-related rule that is estimated to cost 

12 more than $1,000,000,000’’ means a rule of the En13 vironmental Protection Agency that— 

14 (A) regulates any aspect of the production, 

15 supply, distribution, or use of energy or pro16 vides for such regulation by States or other gov17 ernmental entities; and 

18 (B) is estimated by the Administrator or 

19 the Director of the Office of Management and 

20 Budget to impose direct costs and indirect 

21 costs, in the aggregate, of more than 

22 $1,000,000,000. 

23 (4) INDIRECT COSTS.—The term ‘‘indirect 

24 costs’’ has the meaning given the term in chapter 8 

25 of the report of the Environmental Protection AgenVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jan 23, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S156.IS S156

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1 cy entitled ‘‘Guidelines for Preparing Economic 

2 Analyses’’ and dated December 17, 2010. 

3 (5) RULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning 

4 given to the term in section 551 of title 5, United 

5 States Code. 

6 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

7 the Secretary of Energy. 

8 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AGAINST FINALIZING CERTAIN EN9 ERGY-RELATED RULES THAT WILL CAUSE 

10 SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE EFFECTS TO THE 

11 ECONOMY. 

12 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Ad13 ministrator may not promulgate as final an energy-related 

14 rule that is estimated to cost more than $1,000,000,000 

15 if the Secretary determines under section 4(b)(3) that the 

16 rule will cause significant adverse effects to the economy. 

17 SEC. 4. REPORTS AND DETERMINATIONS PRIOR TO PRO18 MULGATING AS FINAL CERTAIN ENERGY-RE19 LATED RULES. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Before promulgating as final any 

21 energy-related rule that is estimated to cost more than 

22 $1,000,000,000, the Administrator shall carry out the re23 quirements of subsection (b). 

24 (b) REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 (1) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator 

2 shall submit to Congress and the Secretary a report 

3 containing— 

4 (A) a copy of the rule; 

5 (B) a concise general statement relating to 

6 the rule; 

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

8 rule, including the direct costs and indirect 

9 costs of the rule; 

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

11 the rule and when such benefits are expected to 

12 be realized; 

13 (ii) a description of the modeling, the cal14 culations, the assumptions, and the limitations 

15 due to uncertainty, speculation, or lack of infor16 mation associated with the estimates under this 

17 subparagraph; and 

18 (iii) a certification that all data and docu19 ments relied upon by the Environmental Protec20 tion Agency in developing the estimates— 

21 (I) have been preserved; and 

22 (II) are available for review by the 

23 public on the Web site of the Environ24 mental Protection Agency, except to the 

25 extent to which publication of the data and 


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1 documents would constitute disclosure of 

2 confidential information in violation of ap3 plicable Federal law; 

4 (E) an estimate of the increases in energy 

5 prices, including potential increases in gasoline 

6 or electricity prices for consumers, that may re7 sult from implementation or enforcement of the 

8 rule; and 

9 (F) a detailed description of the employ10 ment effects, including potential job losses and 

11 shifts in employment, that may result from im12 plementation or enforcement of the rule. 

13 (2) INITIAL DETERMINATION ON INCREASES

14 AND IMPACTS.—The Secretary, in consultation with 

15 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the 

16 Administrator of the Energy Information Adminis17 tration, shall prepare an independent analysis to de18 termine whether the rule will cause any— 

19 (A) increase in energy prices for con20 sumers, including low-income households, small 

21 businesses, and manufacturers; 

22 (B) impact on fuel diversity of the elec23 tricity generation portfolio of the United States 

24 or on national, regional, or local electric reli25 ability; 


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1 (C) adverse effect on energy supply, dis2 tribution, or use due to the economic or tech3 nical infeasibility of implementing the rule; or 

4 (D) other adverse effect on energy supply, 

5 distribution, or use, including a shortfall in sup6 ply and increased use of foreign supplies. 

7 (3) SUBSEQUENT DETERMINATION ON ADVERSE

8 EFFECTS TO THE ECONOMY.—If the Secretary deter9 mines under paragraph (2) that the rule will cause 

10 an increase, impact, or effect described in that para11 graph, the Secretary, in consultation with the Ad12 ministrator, the Secretary of Commerce, the Sec13 retary of Labor, and the Administrator of the Small 

14 Business Administration, shall— 

15 (A) determine whether the rule will cause 

16 significant adverse effects to the economy, tak17 ing into consideration— 

18 (i) the costs and benefits of the rule 

19 and limitations in calculating the costs and 

20 benefits due to uncertainty, speculation, or 

21 lack of information; and 

22 (ii) the positive and negative impacts 

23 of the rule on economic indicators, includ24 ing those related to gross domestic prod25 uct, unemployment, wages, consumer 


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1 prices, and business and manufacturing ac2 tivity; and 

3 (B) publish the results of the determina4 tion made under subparagraph (A) in the Fed5 eral Register. 

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

7 IN ANALYSIS. 

8 (a) DEFINITION OF SOCIAL COST OF CARBON.—In 

9 this section, the term ‘‘social cost of carbon’’ means— 

10 (1) the social cost of carbon as described in the 

11 technical support document entitled ‘‘Technical Sup12 port Document: Technical Update of the Social Cost 

13 of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis Under 

14 Executive Order 12866’’, published by the Inter15 agency Working Group on Social Cost of Carbon, 

16 United States Government, in May 2013 (or any 

17 successor or substantially related document); or 

18 (2) any other estimate of the monetized dam19 ages associated with an incremental increase in car20 bon dioxide emissions in a given year. 

21 (b) PROHIBITION ON USE OF SOCIAL COST OF CAR22 BON IN ANALYSIS.—Notwithstanding any other provision 

23 of law or any Executive order, the Administrator may not 

24 use the social cost of carbon to incorporate social benefits 

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1 son, in any cost-benefit analysis relating to an energy-re2 lated rule that is estimated to cost more than 

3 $1,000,000,000 unless a Federal law is enacted author4 izing the use. 

Æ 


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