Washington, D.C. – American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), RIN 2010-AA12, regarding the benefits and costs of regulation. The ANPRM requests public comment on how EPA can be more consistent and transparent in considering societal benefits and costs when crafting its regulations. As the next step, EPA may develop implementing regulations on how it will balance benefits and costs when interpreting its regulatory statutes to design regulations that enhance societal well-being.

“For over 37 years, every president has directed important regulatory agencies such as EPA to carefully consider the benefits and costs in designing regulations and to ensure the benefits of those regulations justify the costs. We applaud this important EPA initiative to strongly embrace this longstanding, bipartisan principle when interpreting and implementing its regulatory statutes. Common-sense regulatory policy that ensures regulations do more good than harm will strengthen the foundation for growing our economy while protecting the environment and creating opportunities for all Americans, now and in the future. We look forward to working together with the administration and stakeholders to achieve these shared goals.”