On Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a new guidance on Recovery Act recipient reporting.  The memo expands on several earlier memos on the same topic, but it lays out more concrete steps for agencies to follow.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday announced plans to expand a program with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) that uses tax money to help factory farms capture their methane pollution and burn it for energy. Before EPA and USDA spend more money on factory farms, the very least these facilities can do is agree to tell us how much they are polluting. Big Agriculture has successfully fought an attempt to measure the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from these large factories, known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). With these giant livestock operations in position to reap financial rewards from climate change policies, the public needs to know what they are emitting in order to measure progress and ensure accountability.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be conducting a webinar to instruct the public on how to use the pollution information in the agency's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) to support environmental justice efforts. In addition to teaching the basics about TRI, the webinar will feature real life examples of how communities have used TRI to address environmental justice concerns. We have encouraged EPA to reach out to the public and publicize the data and tools the agency provides; this webinar is an excellent opportunity for any citizen or public interest group to learn about a very valuable advocacy tool at their disposal.

It doesn’t seem like a very safe time to be an American worker. Yesterday was Workers Memorial Day, and the news is filled with stories about why such a day is necessary. Seth Harris, Deputy Secretary of the Labor Department, called it a “somber time” in an event today at the Center for American Progress.