II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3494 

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

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 

Mrs. BOXER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. VALUATION OF STATISTICAL LIFE IN ENVIRON7 MENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY DECISION8 MAKING. 

9 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 


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

2 of a human life as the basis of making decisions 

3 about whether to take actions to protect humans 

4 from dying from environmental pollution has been 

5 controversial, because that practice— 

6 (A) offends many deeply held religious, 

7 moral, and ethical beliefs of people in the 

8 United States; 

9 (B) fails to sufficiently consider the long10 standing use of credible and accepted alter11 native decisionmaking tools, such as— 

12 (i) health-based protections that use 

13 the latest science to understand and ad14 dress serious health threats, including safe15 guards that seek to protect vulnerable indi16 viduals (such as pregnant women, infants, 

17 children, and the elderly); 

18 (ii) technology-forcing standards that 

19 promote increased research and develop20 ment in effective, cutting-edge technologies 

21 that can save lives by cutting costs while— 

22 (I) reducing the use of dangerous 

23 materials; 


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1 (II) preventing or reducing the 

2 release of those materials into the en3 vironment; or 

4 (III) creating new and safer sys5 tems or materials; 

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

7 (I) inform families, communities, 

8 workers, and others about known or 

9 potential threats; 

10 (II) enable those individuals and 

11 communities to make decisions about 

12 safety based on the information; and 

13 (III) encourage emitters and 

14 users of toxic chemicals to reduce the 

15 emission and use of those chemicals; 

16 and 

17 (C) fails to promote the development and 

18 improvement of other desirable methods of deci19 sionmaking; 

20 (2) decisionmaking by the Environmental Pro21 tection Agency usually involves policy decisions and 

22 legal standards, such as health-based protections, 

23 technology-forcing standards, or right-to-know safe24 guards, rather than monetized values of life and ill25 nesses; 


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1 (3) Federal agencies should continue to con2 sider the nonquantifiable benefits of agency actions, 

3 regardless of whether the number of deaths or ill4 nesses resulting from those actions can be quantified 

5 or expressed in monetary terms; 

6 (4)(A) there is a great difference between a vol7 untarily accepted risk and an involuntarily imposed 

8 risk; and 

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

10 of statistical life based on measures of voluntarily 

11 accepted risks questionable as applied to involun12 tarily imposed risks; and 

13 (5) as of the date of enactment of this Act, ap14 plicable value of statistical life methodologies do not 

15 represent the full value of a human life, including 

16 (among other issues) the concepts that— 

17 (A) an individual may value another life 

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

19 family members or children; 

20 (B) infants, children, and many other indi21 viduals do not have the ability to decide the ap22 propriate value of avoiding death; 

23 (C) many studies of statistical life meth24 odologies are based on a small subset of the 

25 population that may be willing to accept a highVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:20 Sep 17, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3494.IS S3494

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1 er risk of death or illness for less compensation 

2 than other members of society; and 

3 (D) differing economic situations or negoti4 ating positions may falsely skew statistical life 

5 methodology estimates downward. 

6 (b) VALUE OF STATISTICAL LIFE.— 

7 (1) REQUIREMENT.—To the extent that the Ad8 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 

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

10 in decisionmaking any value of statistical life, the 

11 Administrator— 

12 (A) shall not reduce that value below the 

13 highest value of statistical life used in a deci14 sionmaking of the Administrator before the 

15 date of enactment of this Act; and 

16 (B) shall increase that value not less fre17 quently than once each calendar year, by ad18 justing the value to reflect— 

19 (i) the average annual total compensa20 tion of individuals, including income and 

21 benefits; 

22 (ii) the average capital that may be 

23 liquidated upon the death of an individual; 

24 and 


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1 (iii) the value of nonpaid activities, in2 cluding the relevant activities described in 

3 the American Time Survey Results pub4 lished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of 

5 the Department of Labor. 

6 (2) PROHIBITION.—The Administrator shall not 

7 decrease the value of statistical life used in a deci8 sionmaking by the Administrator based on age, in9 come, race, illness, disability, date of death, or any 

10 other personal attribute or relativistic analysis of the 

11 value of life. 

12 (3) TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENT.—The Ad13 ministrator shall— 

14 (A) ensure that the process of the Admin15 istrator for establishing a value of statistical life 

16 under this subsection is conducted in a manner 

17 that is open to the public, including by— 

18 (i) providing public notice and an op19 portunity to comment for a period of at 

20 least 60 days on any proposed revision of 

21 a value of a statistical life; 

22 (ii) explaining the process to the pub23 lic using common, understandable terms; 

24 and 


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1 (iii) for each significant study upon 

2 which the Administrator relies, providing— 

3 (I) a short description of the 

4 methodological strengths and weak5 nesses of the study; and 

6 (II) a description of the injury, 

7 illness, death, or other event used as 

8 a basis for the study; and 

9 (B) provide to the Committee on Environ10 ment and Public Works of the Senate and the 

11 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

12 House of Representatives, concurrently with the 

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

14 any proposed revision of a value of a statistical 

15 life. 

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

17 (1) expresses on behalf of Congress any en18 dorsement of any— 

19 (A) use of value of statistical life analysis 

20 as a decisionmaking criterion; 

21 (B) cost-benefit analysis; 

22 (C) regulatory decisionmaking threshold; 

23 or 

24 (D) single process of agency decision25 making; 


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1 (2) creates a duty to make or revise any stand2 ard under any other applicable law; or 

3 (3) affects any substantive standard for pro4 mulgating regulations under any other applicable 

5 law. 

Æ 


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