Minerals Management Service Acted More like Agent than Regulator

The federal agency responsible for regulating oil and gas extraction let oil companies like BP write their own safety regulations, ignored or downplayed the environmental threats from drilling, and issued drilling permits before fully consulting with other regulatory agencies. The Obama administration has launched an overhaul of the agency and has sent to Congress a legislative proposal to address the looming disaster in the Gulf Coast region.

read in full

What's Next for Coal Mine Safety?

Miner In the wake of the latest coal mining disaster that killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, calls for safety reforms and enhanced regulatory powers echo once again. While mine safety has improved since the recent high death toll of 2006, it remains to be seen if this incident will result in significant changes or if deaths and injuries will continue to be perceived as a cost of doing business.

read in full

GAO: Contractors Overseeing Other Contractors in a Contingency Environment Problematic

Of the $38.6 billion worth of contracts and grants obligated to Iraq and Afghanistan during fiscal year 2008 and the first half of fiscal year 2009 by the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of State (State), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), roughly $1 billion went to contractors to help administer some of the contracts and grants. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds that DOD, State, and USAID often enter into these administration contracts haphazardly without checking for potential conflicts of interest or ensuring adequate oversight.

read in full

One Small Policy Step, but One Huge Leap for Government Openness: Statement of Gary D. Bass

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2010—The Obama administration took several actions today that will likely have a lasting and positive impact on government transparency. Each federal agency announced its Open Government Plan, complemented by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policy changes to reduce certain impediments to transparency and to improve both regulatory and federal spending transparency.

read in full

EPA to Limit Mountaintop Mining

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new guidance April 1 that should limit the impacts of mountaintop coal mining in Appalachia. The agency issued the guidance to clarify EPA's expectations regarding legal and scientific interpretations when issuing permits for the destructive surface mining practice.

read in full

Administration Initiative to Eliminate Improper Payments Starts to Come into Focus

On March 22, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released new guidance for implementing President Obama's recent Executive Order 13520, which instructs the federal government to reduce improper payments to individuals and businesses. The initiative attempts to use transparency, public participation, and executive branch accountability to reduce "payment errors" and eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse" in major federal programs. The guidance, however, is incomplete, and OMB will have to work to fill out the program's details.

read in full

Auto Safety Regulator under Scrutiny after Toyota Fiasco

Incidents of sudden acceleration that led to the recall of millions of Toyota vehicles have sparked a debate over whether the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the federal agency in charge of auto safety, needs enhanced powers and resources.

read in full

Modernizing the Occupational Safety and Health Act

On March 16, a House subcommittee held a hearing on proposed legislation to modernize the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). The House bill, the Protecting America's Workers Act (PAWA), would update civil and criminal penalties and provide enhanced protection to workers who report unsafe working conditions.

read in full

Commentary: Security Contracting and the Dilemma of Defining an Inherently Governmental Function

Later in March, the Obama administration plans to release new guidance to federal agencies on which jobs the government can and cannot outsource to the private sector. The federal government's latest effort to better define what qualifies as an inherently governmental function should theoretically have significant consequences for reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, specifically regarding security contracting. However, change is unlikely.

read in full

FDA Announces New Approach to Inspections of Imported Products

On Feb. 4, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new approach to regulating imported products – including food and medical devices – to enhance the agency's ability to respond to the increased globalization of commerce. The new risk-based approach to inspections and product tracking will be in place nationally in 2010.

read in full

Pages

Subscribe to Government Performance (Articles and Blog Posts)