I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5668 

To prohibit the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from taking the social cost of carbon or the 

social cost of methane into account when taking any action, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 7, 2016 

Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia (for himself, Mr. WOMACK, Mr. CULBERSON, 

Mr. LAHOOD, and Mr. MULLIN) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator 

of the Environmental Protection Agency from taking the 

social cost of carbon or the social cost of methane into 

account when taking any action, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Transparency and 

5 Honesty in Energy Regulations Act of 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following— 


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1 (1) As a tool to justify Federal actions by the 

2 Department of Energy and the Environmental Pro3 tection Agency (hereinafter in this section referred 

4 to as the ‘‘EPA’’) addressing greenhouse gas emis5 sions, including those regulating or prohibiting the 

6 exploration, mining, production, and use of coal as 

7 well as other fossil fuels as energy sources, the So8 cial Cost of Carbon (hereinafter in this section re9 ferred to as the ‘‘SCC’’) and the Social Cost of 

10 Methane (hereinafter in this section referred to as 

11 the ‘‘SCM’’) in theory represent the hypothetical 

12 cost of an incremental ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) 

13 or methane emissions in a given year. 

14 (2) Office of Management and Budget (herein15 after in this section referred to as the ‘‘OMB’’) Cir16 cular A–4 guides Federal agencies on the develop17 ment of regulatory impact analysis required under 

18 Executive Order 12866 as well as other authorities, 

19 instructing agencies to include discount rates of 3 

20 and 7 percent while also evaluating the cost and 

21 benefits that accrue to citizens and residents of the 

22 United States. 

23 (3) First developed in 2009 by an interagency 

24 working group, including the Department of Energy 

25 and the EPA, the SCC estimates fail to comply with 


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1 OMB Circular A–4 prescribed discount rates of 3 

2 and 7 percent. 

3 (4) While OMB Circular A–4 specifies that an 

4 evaluation of the global effects, when undertaken, is 

5 to be reported separately from domestic costs and 

6 benefits, the SCC instead calculated the global bene7 fits in lieu of and not in addition to the domestic ef8 fects. 

9 (5) The use of the SCC estimates in Depart10 ment of Energy and EPA rulemakings prior to any 

11 opportunity for public notice and comment violated 

12 not only scientific peer-review requirements but also 

13 the President’s commitment to transparent and open 

14 government as outlined in his January 21, 2009, 

15 memorandum to the heads of executive departments 

16 and agencies. 

17 (6) In July 2015, as part of a revision of the 

18 SCC in response to over 150 substantive comments 

19 and in acknowledgment of the faulty process by 

20 which the SCC estimates were developed, the OMB 

21 requested the National Academies of Science, Engi22 neering and Medicine (hereinafter in this section re23 ferred to as the ‘‘NAS’’) review and make rec24 ommendations for the improvement of the SCC esti25 mates. 


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1 (7) Shortly after the commencement of the 

2 NAS review, the EPA, without appropriate peer re3 view and an opportunity for public notice and com4 ment, utilized the EPA-developed SCM estimates in 

5 justifying the costs and benefits of the September 

6 2015 proposed and recently finalized rules under the 

7 Clean Air Act for methane emissions from new, 

8 modified, and reconstructed sources in the oil and 

9 gas sector. 

10 (8) Continued use by the Department of En11 ergy and the EPA of the SCC and the SCM ignores 

12 sound science in order to eliminate the exploration, 

13 mining, production, and use of our abundant domes14 tic sources of fossil fuel energy. 

15 (9) The Department of Energy and EPA regu16 lations, which are costing American families billions 

17 of dollars per year, are being justified in large part 

18 by SCC and SCM estimates. 

19 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CONSIDERING THE SOCIAL COST 

20 OF CARBON AND THE SOCIAL COST OF METH21 ANE. 

22 The Secretary of Energy, when acting under any au23 thority, and the Administrator of the Environmental Pro24 tection Agency, when acting under the authority of the 

25 Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), may not consider 


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1 the social cost of carbon or the social cost of methane as 

2 part of any cost benefit analysis required under law or 

3 under Executive Order 12866 or 13563, in any rule4 making, in the issuance of any guidance, or in taking any 

5 other agency action, or as a justification for any rule6 making, guidance document, or agency action, unless a 

7 Federal law is enacted, after the date of enactment of this 

8 Act, explicitly authorizing such consideration. 

9 SEC. 4. REPORT OF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE EPA. 

10 Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment 

11 of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro12 tection Agency, in coordination and consultation with the 

13 Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the Interior, and 

14 the Council on Environmental Quality shall submit a re15 port to the Committees on Energy and Commerce and on 

16 Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and 

17 the Committees on the Environment and Public Works 

18 and on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate, de19 tailing the number of proposed and final rulemakings, 

20 guidance documents, and agency actions since January 

21 2009 that use the social cost of carbon or the social cost 

22 of methane, including as part of any cost benefit analysis 

23 required under Executive Order 12866 and other relevant 

24 authorities. 


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1 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) The term ‘‘social cost of carbon’’ means— 

4 (A) the social cost of carbon as described 

5 in— 

6 (i) the document entitled ‘‘Technical 

7 Support Document: Social Cost of Carbon 

8 for Regulatory Impact Analysis Under Ex9 ecutive Order 12866’’ published by the 

10 Interagency Working Group on Social Cost 

11 of Carbon, United States Government, in 

12 February 2010; or 

13 (ii) the document entitled ‘‘Technical 

14 Support Document: Technical Update of 

15 the Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory 

16 Impact Analysis Under Executive Order 

17 12866’’ published by the Interagency 

18 Working Group on Social Cost of Carbon, 

19 United States Government, in May 2013, 

20 and revised in November 2013 and July 

21 2015, or any other successor or substan22 tially related document; or 

23 (B) any other estimate of the monetized 

24 damages associated with an incremental in25 crease in carbon dioxide emissions in a given 

26 year. 


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1 (2) The term ‘‘social cost of methane’’ means 

2 the estimate of the social cost of methane— 

3 (A) as described in— 

4 (i) the proposed rule entitled ‘‘Oil and 

5 Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards 

6 for New and Modified Sources’’ published 

7 by the Environmental Protection Agency in 

8 the Federal Register on September 18, 

9 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 56593); 

10 (ii) the final rule entitled ‘‘Oil and 

11 Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards 

12 for New, Reconstructed, and Modified 

13 Sources’’ published by the Environmental 

14 Protection Agency in the Federal Register 

15 on June 3, 2016 (81 Fed. Reg. 35824); or 

16 (iii) the ‘‘Regulatory Impact Analysis 

17 of the Final Oil and Natural Gas Sector: 

18 Emission Standards for New, Recon19 structed, and Modified Sources’’ prepared 

20 by the Environmental Protection Agency, 

21 Office of Air and Radiation, in May 2016, 

22 and identified by docket ID number EPA– 

23 HQ–OAR–2010–0505–7630; or 


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1 (B) any other successor or substantially re2 lated estimate. 

Æ 


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