Page:Michigan v. EPA.pdf/29

 Cite as: 576 U. S. ____ (2015)

7

KAGAN, J., dissenting

Union Dept., AFL–CIO v. American Petroleum Institute, 448 U. S. 607, 670 (1980) (Powell, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). At a minimum, that is because such a process would “threaten[ ] to impose massive costs far in excess of any benefit.” Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, Inc., 556 U. S. 208, 234 (2009) (BREYER, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). And accounting for costs is particularly important “in an age of limited resources available to deal with grave environmental problems, where too much wasteful expenditure devoted to one problem may well mean considerably fewer resources available to deal effectively with other (perhaps more serious) problems.” Id., at 233; see ante, at 7. As the Court notes, that does not require an agency to conduct a formal cost-benefit analysis of every administrative action. See ante, at 14. But (absent contrary indication from Congress) an agency must take costs into account in some manner before imposing significant regulatory burdens. That proposition, however, does not decide the issue before us because the “appropriate and necessary” finding was only the beginning. At that stage, EPA knew that a lengthy rulemaking process lay ahead of it; the determination of emissions limits was still years away. And the Agency, in making its kick-off finding, explicitly noted that consideration of costs would follow: “As a part of developing a regulation” that would impose those limits, “the effectiveness and costs of controls will be examined.” 65 Fed. Reg. 79830. Likewise, EPA explained that, in the course of writing its regulation, it would explore regulatory approaches “allowing for least-cost solutions.” Id., at 79830–79831. That means the Agency, when making its “appropriate and necessary” finding, did not decline to consider costs as part of the regulatory process. Rather, it declined to consider costs at a single stage of that process, knowing that they would come in later on. The only issue in these cases, then, is whether EPA