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CONSERVATION GROUPS’ COMMENTS <br />UNCOMPAHGRE FIELD OFFICE RMP AND DEIS <br />62 <br />climate change and comply with international and national climate commitments. It also prevents <br />BLM from considering how to prepare for and transition from fossil fuel production in the <br />region. <br />E. BLM Must Quantify the Severity of Harm from Greenhouse Gas Emissions <br /> 1. Social Cost of Carbon Protocol <br /> <br />Research conducted by the National Research Council has confirmed that the negative <br />impacts of energy generation from fossil fuels are not represented in the market price for such <br />generation.203 In other words, failing to internalize the externalities of energy generation from <br />fossil fuels—such as the impacts to climate change and human health—has resulted in a <br />market failure that requires government intervention. Executive Order 12866 directs federal <br />agencies to assess and quantify such costs and benefits of regulatory action, including the effects <br />on factors such as the economy, environment, and public health and safety, among others. See <br />Exec. Order No. 12866, 58 Fed. Reg. 51,735 (Sept. 30, 1993).204 The Ninth Circuit has ruled <br />that agencies must include the climate benefits of a significant regulatory action in federal cost- <br />benefit analyses to comply with EO 12866. <br /> <br />[T]he fact that climate change is largely a global phenomenon that includes <br />actions that are outside of [the agency’s] control ... does not release the agency <br />from the duty of assessing the effects of its actions on global warming within <br />the context of other actions that also affect global warming. <br /> <br />Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. Nat’l Highway Traffic Safety Admin., 538 F.3d 1172, 1217 (9th <br />Cir. 2008) (quotations and citations omitted); see also Border Power Plant Working Grp. v. <br />U.S. Dep’t of Energy, 260 F. Supp. 2d 997, 1028-29 (S.D. Cal. 2003) (finding agency failure <br />to disclose project’s indirect carbon dioxide emissions violates NEPA). <br /> <br />In response, an Interagency Working Group (“IWG”) was formed to develop a <br />consistent and defensible estimate of the social cost of carbon—allowing agencies to <br />“incorporate the social benefits of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into cost-benefit <br />analyses of regulatory actions that impact cumulative global emissions.”205 In other words, SCC <br /> <br />203 See, e.g., National Research Council, Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of <br />Energy Production and Use (2010) (attached as Exhibit 106); Nicholas Muller, et. al., <br />Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy, AMERICAN ECONOMIC <br />REVIEW (Aug. 2011) (attached as Exhibit 107); see also Generation Investment Management, <br />Sustainable Capitalism, (Jan. 2012) (attached as Exhibit 108) (advocating a paradigm shift to “a <br />framework that seeks to maximize long-term economic value creation by reforming markets to <br />address real needs while considering all costs and stakeholders.”). 204 See also Executive Order 13563, 76 Fed. Reg. 3821 (Jan. 18, 2011) (reaffirming the <br />framework of EO 12866 and directing federal agencies to conduct regulatory actions based on <br />the best available science). 205 See Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon, United States Government, <br />Technical Support Document: Technical Update on the Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory <br />Impact Analysis – Under Executive Order 12866 (May 2013) at 2 (hereinafter 2013 TSD) <br />(attached as Exhibit 109).