Scientists and Economists Agree – Health and Safety Regulations Are Good for Our Health and Good for the Economy
Jul 20, 2011 by Cassandra Lovejoy*
Health and safety advocates have argued for decades that investments in clean energy and environmental protections help to create jobs. Time and time again, reports have shown that supporting clean energy fosters the development of new, job-creating industries, and that compliance with environmental health and safety standards encourages companies to hire new workers and invest in local economies. A host of new studies published in the past week provide even more support for those claims.
read in fullNew Critique of Crain and Crain Study Rejects Claim about Costs of Public Safeguards
Jul 19, 2011 by Katie Greenhaw
An estimate of the cost of public protections often cited by regulatory opponents has been rejected by researchers from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The critique, Flaws Call for Rejecting Crain and Crain Model, concludes that because the $1.75 trillion cost estimate is heavily based on flawed methodology and flawed data, it "should not be used either as a valid measure of the costs of regulation or as a guide for policy."
read in fullEPA Issues Life-Saving Air Quality Rule, Shows Benefits Far Outweigh Costs
Jul 8, 2011 by Katie Greenhaw
Despite industry pressure, EPA finalized a rule July 6 that will achieve billions of dollars in public health benefits. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) requires over 20 states to reduce power plant emissions of air pollutants that contribute to ozone and fine particle pollution in other states. The rule will prevent 13,000 to 34,000 premature deaths, 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks, and 400,000 aggravated asthma attacks per year by 2014.
read in fullAgencies Will Revise Their FOIA Regulations (...Or Not)
Jul 7, 2011 by Gavin Baker
The Spring 2011 Unified Agenda was released today, reporting agencies' regulatory changes to be considered in the next six months. According to the Unified Agenda, several agencies intend to revise their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations this year, but there are reasons to take that with a grain of salt.
read in fullOMB Annual Report Shows Regulations' Benefits Exceed Costs
Jun 28, 2011 by Katie Greenhaw
On June 24, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its annual report on the costs and benefits of major federal regulations (those with an annual effect of $100 million or more on the economy) reviewed by OMB over the last ten years. OMB issued the 2011 Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations and Unfunded Mandates on State, Local, and Tribal Entities in compliance with the Regulatory-Right-to-Know Act, which requires OMB to submit to Congress an annual report on the costs and benefits of federal regulations for the previous year.
read in fullEPA Withdraws TRI Clarification Rule That Would Protect Public Health
Jun 24, 2011 by Cassandra Lovejoy*
Last Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew from consideration a final rule that clarified exemptions to its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirement. The articles exemption clarification was being reviewed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the last step before it could be finalized and published in the Federal Register. The OIRA review process is not made available to the public, so it is impossible to tell what caused EPA to pull the rule.
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OIRA Administrator Sunstein Calls Crain & Crain Report "Deeply Flawed"
Jun 23, 2011 by Jessica Randall
In his oral testimony in a hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on June 23, Cass Sunstein called out a "deeply flawed" report that many have been using to criticize the costs of the regulatory system.
read in full"A Nation Without Regulations Would be a Nation at Risk"
Jun 23, 2011 by Rick Melberth*
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, opened a committee hearing on regulation with the quote above. His committee was conducting a hearing today entitled Federal Regulation: A Review of Legislative Proposals.
read in fullReal Stories about the Benefits of Regulation Emerge Ahead of Senate Hearing
Jun 22, 2011 by Rick Melberth*
For months, the country has been bombarded with increasingly negative and misleading messages about federal regulation, and Congress has responded by launching attacks against public protections that safeguard our air, our water, our food, our workplaces, and our economy. What's been missing from these anti-regulatory broadsides are examples of the benefits of regulation, but such stories emerged earlier today during a Coalition for Sensible Safeguards press call.
read in fullEPA Air Toxics Rule Will Spur Job Growth
Jun 15, 2011 by Cassandra Lovejoy*
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule to limit toxic chemical emissions from power plants will create between 28,000 and 158,000 jobs in the next four years, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
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