[Senate Report 110-499]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]







                                                      Calendar No. 1077
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     110-499

======================================================================



 
  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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.

                                  
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