HR 10425: Environmental Health Restoration Act of 2026
HR 10425 in plain English: The Environmental Health Restoration Act of 2026 would direct the EPA to use a social cost of carbon valued at $190 per metric ton (in 2020 dollars) in its regulatory analyses and would appropriate approximately $10,993,653,000 to the EPA to carry out related duties.
Stated purpose
This bill aims to restore EPA regulations that were in effect as of January 19, 2025, and require the EPA to enforce the Clean Air Act, halting what the bill describes as unlawful deregulatory actions taken since that date.
Key points
- Sets the social cost of carbon at $190 per metric ton in 2020 dollars for use in EPA regulatory decisions
- Appropriates approximately $10,993,653,000 to the EPA to carry out the bill's requirements
Arguments supporters make
- Restoring these rules protects people from proven health harms like mercury, soot, and toxic air pollution that science links to serious illness.
- The EPA is legally required to enforce the Clean Air Act, and Congress has a duty to step in when an agency refuses to follow existing law.
- Reinstating these standards gives states back their authority to protect their own residents, consistent with the Clean Air Act's original design.
Arguments opponents make
- Locking in specific regulations by statute removes the executive branch's normal flexibility to update rules as technology, science, and economic conditions change.
- Requiring the EPA to reinstate rules within 60 days without a new rulemaking process could bypass the public comment and cost-benefit analysis that environmental law normally requires.
- The regulations being restored impose significant compliance costs on energy producers and manufacturers, which critics argue could raise electricity and consumer prices.
Tradeoffs
Stronger pollution protections and restored enforcement come at the cost of limiting executive and agency discretion to adjust rules through normal administrative processes; the bill prioritizes public health and legal consistency over regulatory flexibility and industry cost concerns.
Current status in Congress: In committee.
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