Questions Unanswered on White House Role in EPA IRIS Process

As I blogged a couple weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to streamline its process for assessing the health effects of chemicals under its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).

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Obama Backtracks on Mountaintop Mining

Coal industry lobbyists appear to have valuable access to White House officials, and they’re using it to expand mountaintop mining in the Appalachians, according to an article in The Los Angeles Times.

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When Employers Are Naughty, OSHA Can Only Be Nice

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is taking enforcement action against Wal-Mart over the death of a New York store employee on Black Friday 2008. Unfortunately, OSHA’s going after the retail giant with all the fury of a box full of kittens.

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Protections for Farmworkers Temporarily Reinstated

The Department of Labor is officially suspending a Bush administration regulation that stripped agricultural workers of certain housing and wage protections. The rule, one of President Bush’s midnight regulations, was finalized Dec. 18 and went into effect Jan. 17.

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Obama Administration Accepting Ideas for Regulations.gov

The Obama administration has launched a website to prompt a discussion of the federal government’s online portal for viewing and commenting on agency regulations – Regulations.gov. The new website, Regulations.gov/exchange, includes ideas for improving Regulations.gov and allows users to comment on the ideas.

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USDA to Restart Collection of Pesticide Data

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will resume a portion of its survey of the use of farm chemicals that was cut during the Bush administration. The surveys historically have provided crucial publicly available data on the amount and types of pesticides used on a variety of crops and livestock operations nationwide.

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EPA Regains Control over Chemical Assessments

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it would take back the reins of its program for assessing the risks of industrial chemicals after the process had become corrupted by political forces.

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Obama Issues Memo on Preemption Practices

President Obama issued a memorandum May 20 to the heads of executive departments and agencies that should limit some of the worst preemption practices used by the Bush administration.

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Senate Panel Clears Sunstein for OIRA

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the nomination of Cass Sunstein to be administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The nomination will now head to the full Senate for a vote.

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On Bisphenol-A Policy, the Lobbyists Are in Charge

When it comes to bisphenol-A (BPA), a ubiquitous and likely dangerous chemical found in hard plastic products like water bottles, there seems to be three repeating story lines: state and local governments continue to take action, new studies continue to prove frightening, and evidence continues to surface showing that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no interest in protecting American consumers.

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