White House Re-Evaluates 'Social Cost of Carbon'

White House regulatory official Howard Shelanski announced that the Obama administration is making  additional changes to  a metric that helps regulators estimate the value of rules that cut greenhouse gas emissions.

It’s launching a public comment period “in response to public and stakeholder interest.”

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) decision arrives amid criticism from industry groups and Republicans who say the Obama administration’s May 2013 upward revision of the SCC earlier lacked public input.

The “social cost of carbon” has lately been a flashpoint in wider political and lobbying battles over White House’s climate change policy, especially planned Environmental Protection Agency carbon standards for power plants.