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EPA and OIRA Conspired to Avoid Required Cost-Benefit, Children’s Health Analyses on Glider Truck Repeal Rule

Statement of Amit Narang, Regulatory Policy Advocate, Public Citizen

Note: Today, the Office of Inspector General (IG) released a report showing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to develop required cost-benefit analyses and air quality assessments related to children’s health for its glider repeal rule. According to the IG report, the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has not explained why it waited until after the rule was issued to demand the required analyses. The repeal rule would allow the continued use of older, polluting engines in heavy-duty trucks.

This IG report shows that OIRA was complicit in allowing the EPA to rush out a repeal of the glider repeal rule as a political favor to the glider truck industry. The report indicates that the EPA did not want to conduct a cost-benefit analysis or children’s health analysis for the rule because those analyses would show harmful health impacts caused by increased pollution.

This fundamentally calls into question the integrity of the OIRA review process. Congress must conduct aggressive oversight of OIRA – starting with close scrutiny of President Donald Trump’s new nominee to head the agency, Paul Ray.