Archive for November, 2013
Feds reveal data behind ‘social cost of carbon’
Nov 25th
Editor’s Note: An advance copy of OMB’s Federal Register notice requesting comment on the social cost of carbon (60 day comment period) is attached here.
From: The Hill/RegWatch
By Julian Hattem
The White House is publishing the data behind its decision to increase the “social cost of carbon,” which is used to calculate the benefits of regulations cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
The metric, which was revised upward earlier this year, has been a point of contention for the Obama administration and critics who say that it was developed in a “black box” without proper oversight.
“The total number of federal regulatory restrictions is now more than one million. And they’re not all necessarily good ideas.”
Nov 17th
From: New York Times
More Freedom on the Airplane, if Nowhere Else
By TYLER COWEN
It is sometimes the small events that reveal the really big problems lurking beneath the surface. That’s the case with the Federal Aviation Administration’s recent decision to grant airlines the liberty of allowing the use of electronic devices during takeoff and landing.
You still won’t be able to call on your cellphone during those times, but, if the airline allows it, you will be able to read on your Kindle or play Angry Birds throughout the flight.
ACUS Examines Time it Takes the White House to Review Rules
Nov 14th
Editor’s Note: For more information on OIRA participation in agency rulemaking, please see Proper and Desirable Intervention by the President in Agency Rulemaking.
From: RegBlog/Penn Program on Regulation
Regulation impacts nearly every aspect of our lives. The medications we take, the seatbelts we buckle, and the very air we breathe are all subject to regulation. Sometimes, however, regulations that impact the health and safety of the public and the environment are significantly delayed in getting adopted because they are subject to review by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
Burwell Embraces Mission Impossible Rescuing U.S. Budget
Nov 8th
From: Bloomberg
By Lisa Lerer
White House budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell learned her management skills from some of the masters: former President Bill Clinton, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, and onetime Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.
Shortly after being selected as the new head of the Office of Management and Budget earlier this year, the longtime Washington hand was taught something else: Those Clinton-era lessons may be no match for today’s House Republicans.
Refining Estimates of the Social Cost of Carbon
Nov 4th
From: OMBlog
Posted by Howard Shelanski
As part of our ongoing effort to measure the impact of reducing carbon emissions, today we are issuing updated values for the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), which are used to estimate the value to society of reducing carbon emissions. These updated values reflect minor technical corrections to the estimates we released in May of this year. For example, these technical corrections result in a central estimated value of the social cost of carbon in 2015 of $37 per metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2), instead of the $38 per metric ton estimate released in May.