Safeguarding Public Health and the Environment

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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OMB Watch Comments on Greenhouse Gas Reporting

Jun 10, 2009 by Brian Turnbaugh*

OMB Watch has submitted comments on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) registry. Our comments focused on ensuring that information about emissions is made available to the public in a comprehensive, timely, and useful manner. Without sufficient transparency, the GHG registry could end up sabotaging our nascent climate policies.

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Obama Backtracks on Mountaintop Mining

Jun 2, 2009 by Matthew Madia

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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EPA Plans to Listen to Scientists Again

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced it will increase the influence of scientists and the level of transparency in setting standards for common air pollutants, a reversal of a Bush administration policy that politicized scientific analyses. Clean air advocates are welcoming the policy reversal as a restoration of the role of science in crafting policies that impact environmental and public health.

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USDA to Restart Collection of Pesticide Data

May 22, 2009 by Brian Turnbaugh*

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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Climate Change Memo Controversy: Lessons Learned

May 14, 2009 by Matthew Madia

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is the source of some controversial language in a climate change memo sent from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to the EPA, according to news reports.

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OMB Denies Interference in EPA Climate Policy

May 12, 2009 by Matthew Madia

Today, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag issued a statement denying that his office made any attempt to push back against the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent notice that called greenhouse gases a threat to the public.

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How Do Regulatory Agencies Fare in Obama’s Budget?

May 8, 2009 by Matthew Madia

President Obama’s FY 2010 budget proposal, released yesterday, makes major investments in a few agencies critical to protecting the public but shortchanges others. Let’s dive in.

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EPA Back in the "Fishbowl"

In a recent memorandum to employees, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlined broad principles of transparency that will govern the agency's interactions with the public. By promising to operate EPA as if it were "in a fishbowl," Administrator Lisa Jackson reinstated a principle many considered ignored by the previous administration. Jackson also announced measures to promote transparency in EPA's economic stimulus activities.

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OMB Watch Unveils Redesigned, Expanded Environmental Right-to-Know Website

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2009—OMB Watch today launched a redesigned and expanded website for the Right-to-Know Network (RTK NET) at www.rtknet.org. The website serves as a source for information about environmental and public health threats and opportunities for public engagement with environmental policy, and it offers news, data, and analysis of environmental right-to-know issues.

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Did the Obama White House Meddle with EPA’s GHG Finding?

Apr 29, 2009 by Matthew Madia

On April 17, the Environmental Protection Agency declared that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to public health and welfare. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson made the so-called endangerment finding under section 202 of the Clean Air Act. The finding now obliges EPA to regulate emissions under the Act.

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