The Obama administration took another step forward with its greenhouse gas control program yesterday when it quietly posted its “Technical Update of the Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis under Executive Order 12866.” Executive Order 12866 was issued by President William Clinton on September 30, 1993, and established broad principles of regulatory process including risk assessment. In the recent Obama Technical Update, the social cost of carbon for 2020 increased in value from a range of $7 to $81 per ton, to a revised range of $12 to $81. The increased range will support more rigorous regulations with the first example being in the domain of microwave efficiency. Businesses and industries in the energy sector will be well-served to evaluate the impact of the revised risk assessment on their activities.
