How President Trump's War on Science Undermines Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate Policies

December 2020
Citation:
50
ELR 10999
Issue
12
Author
Carolina Arlota

This Article discusses the Trump Administration’s main actions to undermine the role of science in public policy and the consequences for cost-benefit analysis involving climate change policies. It analyzes the specific attacks on science and their impact on relevant policies, namely, the rollbacks of the Clean Water Rule, the pesticides ban, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Power Plan, as well as modification of the National Environmental Policy Act and regulations promoting fuel efficiency, and the flexibilization of environmental enforcement during the COVID-19 pandemic. All of these deregulatory cases were also illustrative of at least one modality of an attack on science. It concludes by examining the negative impact of the war on science and related unreasoned policymaking that transcends domestic borders.

Carolina Arlota is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.