Cost-benefit has its limits: Ask Posner...

Be sure to check out the latest article by Professor Lisa Heinzerling, which reviews a recent book by Richard Posner:

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More Recent OIRA Meetings

  • Tue Jun 21, 2005: OMB met with small business over the EPA Pretreatment Streamlining Rule. Those in attendance included representatives from SBA's Office of Advocacy, the Water Quality Assessment Program, the National Water Quality Assessment Program, EPA and the Policy Group.

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Questioning the theory of market-based approaches

A new article by CPR member scholar David Driesen questions the conventional theory purporting to establish that environmental benefit trading encourages innovation better than comparable traditional regulation. Here's a look at the abstract:

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Latest Case of Mad Cow

You think by now they'd have the system down. An inconclusive test indicates that a third cow may have been infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Once again, USDA faces complications in determining whether the cow had BSE. First, though the sample was collected in April, it was only sent for testing in July. Evidently, the vet who took the sample forgot to submit it for testing. According to the L.A. Times, USDA's chief veterinarian John Clifford called the age of the sample "not optimal."

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Running on Empty: The Politics of Fuel Economy

According to the New York Times, EPA has withheld a report showing that due to loopholes in fuel efficiency standards, manufacturers have been allowed to produce cars that, on average, are significantly less fuel efficient than cars sold in the late 1980s. The loopholes give car manufacturers credits towards their fuel economy standards if they produce dual-fuel cars in their fleet—those that can run on both ethanol blend and gasoline. The credit then allows the manufacturers to add more inefficient cars such as SUVs and trucks to their fleet.

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Reject White House Interference in Agency Rulemaking

The White House improperly forced the Environmental Protection Agency to put aquatic wildlife at risk at the behest of corporate special interests, OMB Watch told a federal court today.

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Groups oppose Cox as SEC chair

The anti-investor record of Rep. Christopher Cox, President George W. Bush's nominee as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should disqualify him from leading the agency, according to a new report by Public Citizen.

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Decision on Plan B Expected by Sept. 1

After much delay, FDA has now promised to make a decision on the over-the-counter status of Plan B by Sept. 1. The administration has been dragging its feet on a decision on the "morning after pill," despite broad support from the FDA advisory committee. Only after Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) stalled the nomination of FDA head Lester Crawford did the administration finally promise to decide on the OTC status. Read more about Plan B here:
  • FDA Ignores Experts, Rejects Plan B for Over-the-Counter Use (5/17/2004)

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Industrial pollution in the womb

The Environmental Working Group unveiled a stunning report of new scientific research in the chemicals to which babies are exposed in utero. Scientists used to assume that the placenta shielded the developing baby from most chemical exposures, but studies drawn from cord blood reveal something quite different:

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EPA needs to be able to do more re chemical risks

A new GAO report concludes that limitations in EPA's authority to regulate chemical safety leaves the public with only "limited assurance" that the 700 new chemicals entering the marketplace each year are safe and won't harm the environment. Some of the findings:

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