A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a legal challenge to President Biden’s executive order effectively increasing the social cost of climate pollutants in federal agency decision making. The judge ruled the states could not bring the “inherently speculative” case because they had not suffered any actual harm, but said they could refile the lawsuit if they experienced actual harm in the future. The “social cost” of a pollutant is a calculation of the harms to society incurred by the emission of that pollutant. Government agencies use the figure when calculating the benefits and potential costs of a proposed rule or regulation. Biden ordered an interim increase in the social costs of carbon, methane, and nitrous oxide early in his presidency and directed a task force to calculate and establish a more permanent estimate of those costs within a year. (E&E News, The Hill, Politico Pro $)