[Senate Report 110-499]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 1077
110th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 110-499
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RESTORING THE VALUE OF EVERY AMERICAN IN ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS ACT
_______
September 24 (legislative day, September 17), 2008.--Ordered to be
printed
_______
Mrs. Boxer, from the Committee on Environment and Public Works,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 3564]
together with
MINORITY VIEWS
[Including an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Environment and Public Works, having
considered an original bill (S. 3564) to restore the value of
every American in environmental decisions, and for other
purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably there
on and recommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE AND SUMMARY OF THE LEGISLATION
The purpose of The Restoring the Value of Every American in
Environmental Decisions Act is to ensure that the Environmental
Protection Agency restores the value of every American in its
decision making, and to provide transparency when the Agency
evaluates its actions in the future.
This legislation would require that, to the extent the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency uses any
value of a statistical life in decision making, that such value
is not reduced from the highest previous value used by the
agency, and that in the future it is not reduced or devalued
based on age, income, race, illness, disability, date of death,
or any other persona attribute or relativistic analysis.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes
standards based on a variety of legal tests, including
feasibility, technology-based, right-to-know, and health-based
criteria. However, the Agency sometimes uses the value of a
statistical life to inform its decision making process when
creating some rules that implement these legal standards. In
particular, the Agency sometimes uses this information when
conducting cost-benefit analysis on its rules.
The Committee is concerned that fundamental moral and
ethical issues are raised by placing a dollar value on a human
life, and is aware that assigning a monetary value to life in
order to decide whether to save it is highly controversial. The
legislation makes clear that Congress shall not be construed to
be endorsing the monetization of the value of human life or use
of such cost-benefit analyses.
Problems arise with valuing voluntary versus involuntary
risks, and with assigning values to risks experienced by other
people, including infants and children who do not have the
ability to decide on the appropriate value of avoiding death.
The Committee is extremely concerned about recent reports
that EPA has devalued a statistical life, from roughly $7.8
million per person to about $6.9 million per person.
SUMMARY OF MAJOR PROVISIONS OF THE BILL
The Restoring the Value of Every American in Environmental
Decisions Act will ensure that the EPA does not reduce the
estimated ``value of statistical life'' in its decision making,
and requires the agency to provide transparency and public
participation when the Agency assigns a value in the future.
This legislation would require that, to the extent the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency uses any
value of a statistical life in decision making that such value
is not reduced or otherwise modified based on age, income,
race, illness, disability, date of death, or any other persona
attribute or relativistic analysis.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. Short title
This section designates the title of the bill as the ``the
Restoring the Value of Every American in Environmental
Decisions''.
Section 2. Valuation of statistical life in Environmental Protection
Agency decision making
Section (a) contains findings.
Section (b)(1) ensures that, to the extent that the
Administrator uses in decision making any value of statistical
life, including the life of pregnant women, infants, children,
and the elderly, the Administrator shall not reduce the value
below the highest value of statistical life used in a decision
making of the Administrator's before the date of enactment of
the Act. This section also requires the Administrator to
regularly update this value using certain criteria.
Subsection (b)(2) creates a prohibition on the devaluation
or relativistic adjustment of the value of a statistical life.
Subsection (b)(3) requires the Administrator to use a
transparent process when establishing and revising the value of
a statistical life.
Section (c) makes clear that Congress does not endorse the
use of a value of a statistical life as a decision making
criterion, cost-benefit analysis, regulatory decision making
threshold, or single process of agency decision making. It also
makes clear that this Act does not create a duty to revise
standards under applicable law or in any other way affect any
substantive standard.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY AND VOTES
On September 17, 2008, the Committee on Environment and
Public Works held a business meeting to consider the Restoring
the Value of Every American in Environmental Decisions Act,
among other pieces of legislation. The Committee on Environment
and Public Works considered and approved by voice vote a second
degree amendment offered by Senator Boxer, which amended an
amendment offered by Senator Inhofe. The Inhofe Amendment, as
amended by the Boxer second degree, passed by a rollcall vote
of 10-7. The Committee favorably adopted the amended bill by a
voice vote.
REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT
In compliance with section 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the committee finds that this
legislation does not impose significant regulatory impacts.
MANDATES ASSESSMENT
In compliance with the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
(Public Law 104-4), the Committee finds that this legislation
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would
impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. The CBO
confirms that in their view, ``The bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would have no direct impact on
the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.''
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE ESTIMATE
September 24, 2008.
Hon. Barbara Boxer,
Chairman, Committee on Environment and Public Works,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Madam Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for the Restoring the Value
of Every American in Environment Decisions Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Susanne S.
Mehlman.
Sincerely,
Peter R. Orszag.
Enclosure.
S. 3564--Restoring the Value of Every American in Environmental
Decisions Act
Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lowered
its official estimate of the monetary value of a statistical
life. EPA uses that figure in various cost-benefit analyses and
other types of decisionmaking. This legislation would restore
the dollar-value estimate of human life used by EPA prior to
the recent change. In addition, the bill would require EPA to
regularly update that value through a process that is open to
the public. Based on information from EPA, CBO estimates that
implementing this legislation would not result in any
significant cost to the agency. Enacting the bill would not
affect direct spending or receipts.
The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would have no direct impact on the budgets of state, local, or
tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Susanne S.
Mehlman. This estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
MINORITY VIEWS OF SENATOR JAMES INHOFE
The Environmental Protection Agency uses a value of
statistical life estimate to express the benefits of mortality
risk reductions in monetary terms for use in benefit-cost
analyses of its rules and regulations. EPA has used the same
central default value--adjusted for inflation--in most of its
primary analyses since 1999 when the Agency updated its
Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses (USEPA, 2000).\1\
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\1\Report of the EPA Work Group on VSL META-Analyses, July 25,
2006--available at http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eermfile.nsf/vwAN/EE-
0494-01.pdf/$File/EE-0494-01.pdf
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For the economic purposes of cost-benefit analysis and
resource allocation, EPA calculates the statistical value of
life primarily based on society's value of itself--i.e.,
measuring what people are willing to pay to avoid certain
risks, including factors such as additional amounts employers
pay their workers to take on more risk. A significant amount of
the data used by EPA is drawn from payroll statistics; other
data comes from opinion surveys and validated scientific
models. From EPA's perspective, the value of a statistical life
should not be thought of as the ``price tag'' of a particular
life, but rather as an economic statistical value.
There is no evidence to suggest that EPA has acted
improperly, used invalid data or methodologies, or is
politically motivated to devalue life. The record instead
reflects that the Agency has sought to regularly reevaluate the
available data, models and methodology in order to properly and
consistently calculate this economic measurement.
Of course, the Committee could have properly debated the
validity of EPA's process had we actually held a hearing on the
subject prior to voting on this legislation. Unfortunately,
this Committee chose to pass judgment about an issue on which
we did not conduct proper oversight. Adding insult to injury,
this bill was not even introduced for Senate consideration
until after the business meeting was publically noticed. I
believe that this disregard for established process alone
invalidates the Committee's action on this legislation.
By passing this legislation, the Committee has improperly
inserted its own subjective social and moral preferences into
an otherwise economic exercise. Further, if this Committee
insists on heading down the road of legislating social concerns
and moral preferences, I am disappointed that the Committee did
not support my efforts to instruct EPA to consider the value of
life--born and unborn.
Since the Committee did not follow proper oversight
procedures, I oppose passage of the Restoring the Value of
Every American in Environmental Decisions Act because there is
no evidence to suggest that the existing EPA process improperly
values the economic measure of the statistical value of life.
James M. Inhofe.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
Section 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate
requires the committee to publish changes in existing law made
by the bill as reported. Passage of this bill will make no
changes to existing law.