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Environmental Protection: Assessing Impacts of EPA's Regulations Through Retrospective Studies

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Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date Sept. 14, 1999
Report No. RCED-99-250
Subject
Summary:

For more than 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued and enforced regulations to enhance environmental quality. These regulations impose costs but yield substantial benefits. The Office of Management and Budget has estimated that federal environmental regulations cost about $144 billion annually and generate benefits of about $162 billion. Concerns have been raised, however, that agencies have made only limited attempts to assess the actual impacts of federal regulations. GAO found that assessments of the costs and benefits of EPA's regulations after they have been issued have rarely been done. Only five of 101 economically significant regulations that EPA issued from 1981 through 1998 were the subject of retrospective studies. Retrospective studies have been or can be useful but also pose several problems for researchers. A systematic approach by EPA would foster retrospective studies in the future.

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