






Here’s the table:

Final NSPS


Final Combined

Total Monetized Benefits




Total Costs

-$15 million

$3.5 million

-$11 million

Net Benefits




Non-monetized Benefits

11,000 tons of HAP

670 tons of HAP

12,000 tons of HAP

190,000 tons ofVOC

1,200 tons ofVOC

190,000 tons of VOC

1.0 million tons of methane

420 tons of methane

1.0 million tons of methane

Health effects of HAP exposure
Health effects of PM2.5 and ozone exposure
Visibility impairment
Vegetation effects
Climate effects

As you read the table, HAP is hazardous air pollutants, VOC is volatile organic compounds, and PM2.5 is little bitty pieces of particulate matter. As for NSPS and NESHAP, the rule is “Oil and Natural Gas Sector: New Source Performance Standards and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants Reviews,” and you can find the pre-Federal Register copy here.

Economists are often bemused by the idea that federal agencies can point to big, tasty profits being left on the table by the private sector, but I’m not really in position to say.

I heartily recommend that you sit down and plow through all 588 pages of it, if you want a real education on how the regulatory process works. Though, you’ll probably get the gist of it within the first 450 or so pages.

Here are the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times on the story.