Blog: The Fine Print / Citizen Health & Safety
Petition Seeks Information on Toxic Fracking Emissions
Oct 24, 2012 by Sofia Plagakis
Today, OMB Watch and 16 local, regional, and national organizations filed a petition under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require the oil and gas industry – including companies engaged in fracking – to report their toxic emissions. Such reporting would provide EPA with more information on the identity, use, and quantity of chemicals used by the oil and gas industry and would help the agency evaluate their health and environmental risks.
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Federal Appeals Court Behavior Creates Gridlock
Oct 18, 2012 by Randy Rabinowitz
Steve Pearlstein’s latest column, published in The Washington Post earlier this week, exposed the aggressive, anti-regulatory decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. These decisions are driven by industry arguments designed to create policymaking gridlock.
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Protecting Safe Drinking Water and Your Right to Know
Oct 12, 2012 by Gavin Baker
On Oct. 11, OMB Watch and 14 other organizations filed comments with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), highlighting ways to strengthen the drinking water quality reports that consumers receive from water utilities. EPA recently proposed changes in how the reports are delivered to consumers, which could actually reduce public access to the information.
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Chemical Industry Spending Millions to Hide Danger of Cancer-Causing Products
Oct 12, 2012 by Katie Weatherford
Earlier this week, Nicholas D. Kristof published an article entitled “The Cancer Lobby” in The New York Times, in which he criticized the chemical industry for its intense lobbying efforts to prevent dangerous chemicals from being listed as known cancer-causing agents in the Report on Carcinogens (RoC). The RoC is a biennial report prepared by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), part of the National Institutes of Health. The RoC lists chemicals that are either “known carcinogens” or are “reasonably anticipated to be carcinogens.” Congress required publication of the RoC in the Public Health Service Act of 1978 because of growing concerns among Americans about potential cancer-causing substances in their environment.
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Clear Standards Needed to Ensure Public Access to Water Quality Reports
Oct 4, 2012 by Sofia Plagakis
On Oct. 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a public meeting on a new proposal that would allow water systems to electronically deliver drinking water quality reports to the public. Currently, these reports, required under the Safe Drinking Water Act, are mailed to customers, often with their water bills.
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Regulations.gov Releases New Features
Oct 3, 2012 by Katie Greenhaw
This week, Regulations.gov released new enhancements to the site as part of a continuing redesign and improvement effort. There are more changes to come, but the latest features make rulemaking dockets easier to navigate and understand.
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State Enforcement Too Weak to Protect the Public from Violations by Oil and Gas Producers
Sep 28, 2012 by Sophia Zeng*
States are failing to enforce oil and gas extraction rules, according to a report released Sept. 25 by Earthworks, an environmental group. The report, Breaking All the Rules, analyzes enforcement data, including well inspections, violations, enforcement actions, and penalties in six states: Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The report concluded that state inspection agencies are inadequately staffed, and inspections are arbitrarily conducted.
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New Online Resource Exposes National Federation of Independent Business Funding and Political Activities
Sep 28, 2012 by Katie Greenhaw
The Center for Media and Democracy launched an online resource this week to help uncover the interests behind the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a “trade association” that claims to represent small business and says it is nonpartisan.
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Nearly Four Years In, What Do Cost-Benefit Data Show for the Major Obama EPA Rules, and What Do They Imply for the Economy?
Sep 28, 2012 by
With the issuance in August of the fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for cars for model years 2017–2025, the Obama administration may have now put forth the last major Environmental Protection Agency rule of its term. Starting with a comprehensive analysis in May 2011, EPI has issued a series of analyses which have found that contrary to much of the political commentary, these rules will be of great benefit to the nation, improving public health considerably without harming the economy or employment. (By Isaac Shapiro, originally posted on the Economic Policy Institute's blog, working economics, on Sept. 25, 2012)
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Cost-Benefit Analysis: The Stunning Triumph of a Flawed Tool
Sep 18, 2012 by Katherine McFate
Last Thursday, Cass Sunstein, the former administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), argued that “cost-benefit analysis has become part of the informal constitution of the U.S. regulatory state” and that this represents a “stunning triumph.” While it’s true that cost-benefit analyses are being applied to rulemaking across an array of laws and programs, we believe that this represents the triumph of a flawed analytic tool and is not a triumph for American citizens. It is simply not appropriate to apply cost-benefit analysis to many aspects of policymaking, and the results from such analyses should not be the final determinant of the value of many proposed standards or safeguards.
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