Sheila Olmstead

Professor, Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy

Sheila Olmstead studies the economic dimensions of environmental policies and served Presidents Obama and Trump as a senior economist for energy and the environment at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2016 to 2017. Olmstead is also a former member of EPA’s Science Advisory Board.

Olmstead says the administration is “going to have a hard time making the economic case against these regulations without running afoul of the Administrative Procedures Act (which requires that such moves not be ‘arbitrary and capricious’).” 

Olmstead can also discuss a proposed elimination of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and a proposal to reconsider a finding that greenhouse gases are a danger to public health.

“The administration would need to count on the Supreme Court reversing decisions from 2007 and 2014, and the science on the human health damages from climate change has only become clearer since then. So, these kinds of federal judicial decisions would require some magical thinking,” Olmstead says.

Talbot Andrews

Assistant Professor, College of Arts and Sciences

Talbot Andrews studies how policy design and the changing environment interact with individual’s attitudes to shape their behavior related to environmental policy.

Andrews says:

"Even if some voters cheer in the short term for rolling back the EPA’s fight against climate change, those in office should worry about what this will do to their chances on election day.  

“Rolling back these regulations will reduce the quality of life for everyday Americans. Even if they don’t believe in climate change, voters suffering from worse air quality and more frequent and severe climate disaster will want to hold their elected officials accountable. 

“Renewable energy’s success, especially in red states, continues despite climate change denial in part because it delivers local economic and environmental benefits.”

Arthur Wheaton

Director of Labor Studies, ILR School

Art Wheaton is an expert on transportation industries and serves as director of labor studies at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).

Wheaton says:

“The EPA rollbacks are frustrating to automakers because they crave stability. They may like the lower standards to sell more trucks and SUV’s, but global markets and other markets require higher standards.

“Europe and China have high standards, and the automakers hate having different standards across the world requiring different engines and catalytic converters for each market.”