Citizen Health & Safety
Shelanski Lays Out Top Priorities if Confirmed as Next OIRA Administrator
Jun 12, 2013 by Katie Weatherford
At his Senate confirmation hearing this morning, Howard Shelanski, nominated to serve as the next administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), laid out his top priorities for the office. Among them are addressing long-standing delays of crucial standards and safeguards and the lack of transparency in OIRA's rule review process.
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Looking at Only One Side of the Regulatory Scorecard Tells Misleading Story
Jun 11, 2013 by Katherine McFate
Last Friday, in The Washington Post, Katherine McFate responded to a recent anti-regulatory attack by columnist George Will.
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Obama Nominates Howard Shelanski to Lead Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Jun 10, 2013 by Katie Weatherford
On April 25, President Obama nominated Howard Shelanski as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). If confirmed, Shelanski would replace Cass Sunstein, who resigned from the position last August, leaving behind a record of lengthy delays.
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Industry Interests Testify in Support of Bill Targeting Public’s Right to Hold Government Accountable
Jun 7, 2013 by Katie Weatherford
The House Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, held a hearing Wednesday on proposed legislation that would limit the rights of citizens to enforce legal deadlines and hold government agencies accountable when they fail to perform the tasks assigned to them by Congress. Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) and Sen.
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White House Recognizes Higher Cost of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Jun 7, 2013 by Katie Greenhaw
In May, the Obama administration increased the "social cost of carbon," a monetized estimate of damage caused by carbon emissions that is used to analyze the impacts of certain standards, by roughly 60 percent. Updated to reflect new scientific modeling, the new figure may help agencies implement tougher standards to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.
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We Need a Chemical Safety Bill Worthy of Sen. Lautenberg's Legacy
Jun 4, 2013
On May 23, the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) introduced the Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013. The bill would amend the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, the nation's primary and outdated chemical safety law. Despite being promoted as a significant reform, the proposed legislation fails to improve the health and safety protections missing from current law. As it stands, it represents a significant retreat from the Safe Chemicals Act of 2013 that Lautenberg introduced earlier this year. The earlier bill should be the senator’s legacy.
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Court Rejects Industry Challenge to Styrene Listing in the Report on Carcinogens
Jun 4, 2013
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently rejected industry challenges to an agency's decision to list the chemical styrene in the Twelfth Report on Carcinogens as "reasonably anticipated" to be a cancer-causing agent. A major styrene trade association and a manufacturer of the substance had sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for including styrene in the report.
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To Avoid More Bridges Collapsing, We Need More Infrastructure Investment
May 24, 2013 by Nick Schwellenbach
The Interstate 5 (I-5) highway bridge collapse—which sent cars and people into the Skagit River without any fatalities—near Mount Vernon in Washington State should be a stark reminder that we urgently need to expand investments into repairing and upgrading our nation’s infrastructure.
The need is immense.
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Why Non-Defense Discretionary Spending Keeps Getting Cut
May 23, 2013 by Nick Schwellenbach
The biggest difference among the three budget plans that official Washington is currently considering is spending for non-defense discretionary programs, which includes education, infrastructure, food safety, environmental protection and other essential public investments the public says it wants government to continue to make. A chart created by the Congressional Budget Office – shows the differences between President Obama and Senate Democrats’ budget plans versus the House Republican spending blueprint.
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