Blog: The Fine Print / Citizen Health & Safety

Say bye-bye to the bull trout...

Sep 23, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Remember the bull trout? The administration pulled some chicanery a while back and produced a cost-benefit analysis of plans to save the bull trout's habitat... but eliminated all references to benefits from the final report. Well, surprise, surprise: the new recovery plan "would sharply reduce the amount of federally designated critical habitat for the threatened bull trout in three Western states and eliminate federal requirements for such habitat in Montana," according to the AP. Adds the (Bend) Bulletin:

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Oceans in peril, and Bush admin. wants to make things worse

Sep 21, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Don't miss the latest analysis from U.S. PIRG: "Bush Receives Final Report from U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy: Administration Ignoring Science and Undercutting Ocean Protections." Here's an excerpt: The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, a panel appointed by President Bush, today issued its final report stating that the oceans are in peril and overfishing is a primary factor contributing to the collapse of entire ocean ecosystems. Today's report comes even as the Bush administration is actively seeking to weaken federal standards that protect fish populations from overfishing.

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Cost-benefit analysis: still so very wrong

Sep 20, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Three studies were widely reported in the press and converted into political and scholarly gospel for what they purportedly proved with unassailable quantitative analysis: that government regulation of the public interest is ultimately irrational, as regulations’ costs exponentially outpaced their benefits. In more recent years, Professors Lisa Heinzerling and Richard Parker have scrutinized those studies, claim by claim, number by number, and discovered methodological flaws and biases so severe that the studies should be dumped on the junk science trash heap once and for all.

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Environmental enforcement declines, prosecutions spotty

Sep 16, 2004 by Guest Blogger

According to TRAC (the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which has compiled all manner of government data, including environmental enforcement data), environmental enforcement has declined across the board during the Bush administration, and prosecution of polluters has not been consistent nationwide. From the report on declining environmental enforcement: Federal prosecutors have filed environmental charges against substantially fewer defendants during the administration of President Bush than they did during either of President Clinton's two terms . . . .

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House Votes to Save Overtime

Sep 9, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The House of Representatives defied a White House veto threat and voted 223-193 in favor of the Obey amendment, which effectively overturns Department of Labor regulations that threatened the overtime rights of 6 million workers.

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White House Threatens to Veto Obey Amendment

Sep 9, 2004 by Guest Blogger

In a statement of administrative policy (SAP) released yesterday, the White House threatened to veto the Obey Amendment, which would preserve the increase in the minimum salary below which overtime is guaranteed, while protecting many of those who now receive overtime from losing their privilege under the new overtime law.

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Tell Congress to save overtime rights

Sep 8, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Congress has an opportunity to undo the administration's rollback of overtime protections. A final rule from the Department of Labor would disqualify over 6 million workers from overtime protections. An amendment to the Labor appropriations bill, called the Obey amendment, would restore overtime rights while preserving an inflation adjustment to the minimum salary that determines automatic overtime eligibility.

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Cost-benefit analysis: not exactly neutral

Sep 3, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Proponents of cost-benefit analysis in regulatory policy claim it is simply a neutral tool (that only coincidentally favors industry). Suppose CBA had been applied back in the 70s, when agencies issued many protections of the public interest that we know have been overwhelmingly successful. It could have changed history for the worse: The first wave of modern environmental protection, beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, cleaned up the air and water, protected fragile ecosystems, and achieved great gains in public health — without reliance on cost-benefit analysis, and clearly without

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