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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EPA's Pollution Right-to-Know Program Revived From 10-year Coma

Apr 19, 2010 by Brian Turnbaugh*

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.

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More Than 200 Groups Press Obama on Coal Ash Regulation

Apr 16, 2010 by Matthew Madia

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.

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Coal Ash Communities Call on the White House for Protection

Apr 13, 2010 by Matthew Madia

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.

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EPA to Limit Mountaintop Mining

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new guidance April 1 that should limit the impacts of mountaintop coal mining in Appalachia. The agency issued the guidance to clarify EPA's expectations regarding legal and scientific interpretations when issuing permits for the destructive surface mining practice.

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EPA's New HERO Defends the Public's Right to Know

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched a new online database that provides access to the scientific studies used in making key regulatory decisions. The EPA released the Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) database on March 24. According to the agency, this action "is part of the [Obama administration's] open government directive to conduct business with transparency, participation, and collaboration."

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New Vehicle Standards Take Aim at Climate-Altering Emissions

The Obama administration recently announced new standards that will improve fuel efficiency in new vehicles starting in 2012. The standards mark the first time in U.S. history that the federal government has crafted regulations aimed specifically at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and stemming the impact of global climate change.

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White House Sidelines the Public in Coal Ash Debate

Apr 2, 2010 by Gary Bass*

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.

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Rhyme Time: EPA to Take on BPA

Mar 31, 2010 by Matthew Madia

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.

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EPA Moves to Expand Greenhouse Gas Registry

Mar 25, 2010 by Brian Turnbaugh*

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed several changes to its greenhouse gas (GHG) registry, a new mandatory program requiring thousands of facilities economy-wide to monitor and report their emissions of global warming gases. EPA is proposing to add oil and natural gas facilities and facilities that inject carbon dioxide (CO₂) underground for storage, along with other facilities. EPA also wants to collect additional data from all covered businesses to get a better understanding of emissions at the corporate level and within whole industry sectors, not just by facility. Overall the changes would strengthen the registry and provide the agency and the public with crucial additional information needed to design policies to mitigate climate change and hold polluters accountable.

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New Mountaintop Mining Standard on the Horizon

Mar 25, 2010 by Matthew Madia

The Obama administration’s dance with mountaintop mining continued this week, as the administration pledged to revise the Bush administration’s policy on protections, or lack thereof, for rivers and streams. Environmentalists are hopeful that the Department of the Interior will set standards that prevent mountaintop mining from destroying waterways.

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