Zeldin Had Insisted the Agency Would Still Consider Lives Saved, But Subsequent Proceedings Showed Otherwise

The Trump administration has adopted a quieter but more sweeping strategy to weaken clean-air rules, declining to count the health benefits of reducing pollution in regulatory decisions. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in January that the agency would no longer assign a dollar value to public-health gains from cutting fine particulate matter and ozone, citing uncertainties in how pollution levels translate into health impacts, mortality valuations, and discount rates. The agency has since applied the approach to rules on vehicle emissions, coal and oil power plants, wood products, and heavy-duty vehicle testing, also ignoring benefits from reducing nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and greenhouse gases.

Meanwhile, the EPA continues to fully quantify compliance costs for industry, even though those costs face similar uncertainties. Zeldin had insisted the agency would still consider lives saved, but subsequent proceedings showed otherwise. "shock and awe"