Air pollution rule boosts overall benefits of federal regulations

A 2005 air pollution rule is a major reason why benefits from federal regulations continue to outpace costs, says a draft White House report. Federal regulations issued between 1996 and 2005 generated total annual benefits estimated to be between $94 billion and $449 billion, says the draft report from the President's Office of Management & Budget. Costs of those rules are estimated to be between $37 billion and $44 billion yearly, the draft report says. The ratio of benefits to costs is higher for the 1996-2005 decade than for the period between 1995 and 2004 primarily because of a single EPA rule. That regulation requires 28 eastern states and the District of Columbia to control sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, two key pollutants emitted by coal-fired power plants. According to the draft report, that rule will generate from $50 billion to $60 billion a year worth of health benefits by reducing public exposure to fine particulate matter. It will cost about $1.8 billion yearly.