The Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) ceased operations as of March 2016. The majority of work and materials has been passed on to the Project On Government Oversight (POGO). This site is being maintained as an archive of materials produced.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tweaking the way it treats advisory committee members who have financial conflicts of interest. FDA will require more detailed information on the financial interests of members who have been granted waivers to serve on committees despite a potential conflict, according to draft guidance released Wednesday.
A new report under development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that the public benefits of clean air standards far outweigh the costs of compliance. The report estimates that regulation under the Clean Air Act benefits the economy to the tune of $175 billion per year since 1990, BNA news service (subscription) reports. Controls cost regulated industries $45 billion per year.
After more than ten years in deep freeze, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now proposing steps to revitalize the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) – the bedrock public right-to-know program that tracks toxic pollution from thousands of businesses. Two recent EPA proposals would expand the number of chemicals reported to the program. This would be the first expansion since 1999. The proposals are small but important steps forward. However, EPA must do much more to boost the usefulness of this vital program.
Yesterday, 239 public interest and environmental groups (that’s two full pages of organization names…single spaced!) including OMB Watch wrote to President Obama to ask him to move forward with plans to regulate coal ash. A draft proposed rule, developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, has been under review at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) since Oct. 16, 2009.
In reaction to the West Virginia explosion that left 29 miners dead, President Obama called today for reform of mine safety laws and regulations and better enforcement of those regulations by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). His remarks are available on the White House website.
Residents of communities impacted by toxic coal ash met with the White House yesterday to argue for new regulations aimed at protecting public health and the environment.
Today, the Obama administration cleared a major hurdle for agencies seeking to solicit public input into policymaking and implementing the reforms called for in the Open Government Directive (OGD) issued on December 8, 2009. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo that exempts web-based interactive technologies from the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). Now, agencies are freer than before to communicate with the public in an unstructured way but there are still some restrictions on the solicitation of structured feedback.
In an effort to increase transparency and expand public participation in the rulemaking process, White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator Cass Sunstein issued a memo today encouraging agencies to consistently use Regulation Identifier Numbers, or RINs, to tag documents.
On Dec. 22, 2008, an earthen dam holding back a pond of coal ash in Kingston, Tenn., broke, sending 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic goo cascading across the landscape. That's enough to fill the White House from top to bottom 200 times over.
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled an action plan for addressing bisphenol-A (BPA), a common chemical found in a variety of hard plastics and the lining of food can containers.
