II 

Calendar No. 1077 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3564 

[Report No. 110–499] 

To restore the value of every American in environmental decisions, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 24 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Mrs. BOXER, from the Committee on Environment and Public Works, reported the following original bill; which was read twice and placed on the 

calendar 

A BILL 

To restore the value of every American in environmental 

decisions, 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 ‘‘Restoring the Value 

5 of Every American in Environmental Decisions Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VALUATION OF STATISTICAL LIFE IN ENVIRON2 MENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY DECISION3 MAKING. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

5 (1) using a dollar value to establish the worth 

6 of a human life as the basis of making decisions 

7 about whether to take actions to protect humans 

8 from dying from environmental pollution has been 

9 controversial, because that practice— 

10 (A) offends many deeply held religious, 

11 moral, and ethical beliefs of people in the 

12 United States; 

13 (B) fails to sufficiently consider the long14 standing use of credible and accepted alter15 native decisionmaking tools, such as— 

16 (i) health-based protections that use 

17 the latest science to understand and ad18 dress serious health threats, including safe19 guards that seek to protect vulnerable indi20 viduals (such as pregnant women, infants, 

21 children, and the elderly); 

22 (ii) technology-forcing standards that 

23 promote increased research and develop24 ment in effective, cutting-edge technologies 

25 that can save lives by cutting costs while— 


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1 (I) reducing the use of dangerous 

2 materials; 

3 (II) preventing or reducing the 

4 release of those materials into the en5 vironment; or 

6 (III) creating new and safer sys7 tems or materials; 

8 (iii) right-to-know safeguards that— 

9 (I) inform families, communities, 

10 workers, and others about known or 

11 potential threats; 

12 (II) enable those individuals and 

13 communities to make decisions about 

14 safety based on the information; and 

15 (III) encourage emitters and 

16 users of toxic chemicals to reduce the 

17 emission and use of those chemicals; 

18 and 

19 (C) fails to promote the development and 

20 improvement of other desirable methods of deci21 sionmaking; 

22 (2) decisionmaking by the Environmental Pro23 tection Agency usually involves policy decisions and 

24 legal standards, such as health-based protections, 

25 technology-forcing standards, or right-to-know safeVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:34 Sep 25, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3564.PCS S3564

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1 guards, rather than monetized values of life and ill2 nesses; 

3 (3) Federal agencies should continue to con4 sider the nonquantifiable benefits of agency actions, 

5 regardless of whether the number of deaths or ill6 nesses resulting from those actions can be quantified 

7 or expressed in monetary terms; 

8 (4)(A) there is a great difference between a vol9 untarily accepted risk and an involuntarily imposed 

10 risk; and 

11 (B) that difference renders the use of a value 

12 of statistical life based on measures of voluntarily 

13 accepted risks questionable as applied to involun14 tarily imposed risks; and 

15 (5) as of the date of enactment of this Act, ap16 plicable value of statistical life methodologies do not 

17 represent the full value of a human life, including 

18 (among other issues) the concepts that— 

19 (A) an individual may value another life 

20 more than one’s own, for example the lives of 

21 family members or children; 

22 (B) infants, children, and many other indi23 viduals do not have the ability to decide the ap24 propriate value of avoiding death; 


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1 (C) many studies of statistical life meth2 odologies are based on a small subset of the 

3 population that may be willing to accept a high4 er risk of death or illness for less compensation 

5 than other members of society; and 

6 (D) differing economic situations or negoti7 ating positions may falsely skew statistical life 

8 methodology estimates downward. 

9 (b) VALUE OF STATISTICAL LIFE.— 

10 (1) REQUIREMENT.—To the extent that the Ad11 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 

12 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Administrator’’) uses 

13 in decisionmaking any value of statistical life, in14 cluding the life of pregnant women, infants, chil15 dren, and the elderly, the Administrator— 

16 (A) shall not reduce that value below the 

17 highest value of statistical life used in a deci18 sionmaking of the Administrator before the 

19 date of enactment of this Act; and 

20 (B) shall increase that value not less fre21 quently than once each calendar year, by ad22 justing the value to reflect— 

23 (i) the average annual total compensa24 tion of individuals, including income and 

25 benefits; 


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1 (ii) the average capital that may be 

2 liquidated upon the death of an individual; 

3 and 

4 (iii) the value of nonpaid activities, in5 cluding the relevant activities described in 

6 the American Time Survey Results pub7 lished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of 

8 the Department of Labor. 

9 (2) PROHIBITION.—The Administrator shall not 

10 decrease the value of statistical life used in a deci11 sionmaking by the Administrator based on age, in12 come, race, illness, disability, date of death, or any 

13 other personal attribute or relativistic analysis of the 

14 value of life. 

15 (3) TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENT.—The Ad16 ministrator shall— 

17 (A) ensure that the process of the Admin18 istrator for establishing a value of statistical life 

19 under this subsection is conducted in a manner 

20 that is open to the public, including by— 

21 (i) providing public notice and an op22 portunity to comment for a period of at 

23 least 60 days on any proposed revision of 

24 a value of a statistical life; 


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1 (ii) explaining the process to the pub2 lic using common, understandable terms; 

3 and 

4 (iii) for each significant study upon 

5 which the Administrator relies, providing— 

6 (I) a short description of the 

7 methodological strengths and weak8 nesses of the study; and 

9 (II) a description of the injury, 

10 illness, death, or other event used as 

11 a basis for the study; and 

12 (B) provide to the Committee on Environ13 ment and Public Works of the Senate and the 

14 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

15 House of Representatives, concurrently with the 

16 public notice described in subparagraph (A)(i), 

17 any proposed revision of a value of a statistical 

18 life. 

19 (c) EFFECT OF SECTION.—Nothing in this section— 

20 (1) expresses on behalf of Congress any en21 dorsement of any— 

22 (A) use of value of statistical life analysis 

23 as a decisionmaking criterion; 

24 (B) cost-benefit analysis; 


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1 (C) regulatory decisionmaking threshold; 

2 or 

3 (D) single process of agency decision4 making; 

5 (2) creates a duty to make or revise any stand6 ard under any other applicable law; or 

7 (3) affects any substantive standard for pro8 mulgating regulations under any other applicable 

9 law. 


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Calendar No. 1077 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3564 

[Report No. 110–499] 

A BILL 

To restore the value of every American in 

environmental decisions, and for other purposes. 

SEPTEMBER 24 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Read twice and placed on the calendar 


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