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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States’ Request to Curb Car Emissions to Get Second Look

Feb 6, 2009 by Matthew Madia

begging The Environmental Protection Agency has officially announced its intention to reconsider California’s request to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. President Barack Obama had directed EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to reconsider the waiver request.

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Action on Midnight Rules Switches to Agencies

Jan 29, 2009 by Matthew Madia

One of the first tasks on the to-do list for new Obama administration agency heads will be dealing with the midnight regulations left by the Bush administration. The White House has likely said all its going to say on the issue (more here), but the majority of Bush's regulations are still unaddressed.

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States Try Again to Regulate GHG Emissions from Cars

Jan 23, 2009 by Matthew Madia

California is once again seeking federal approval for its plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. If the Environmental Protection Agency gives California the green light, 17 other states representing almost half of the U.S. auto market are expected to follow suit.

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Transparency Concerns Raised about EPA Nominee

President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lisa Jackson, has drawn both praise and criticism from environmental advocates. Some have accused Jackson of limiting public participation, denying the release of information to the public, and weakening scientific integrity in her time as a state environmental commissioner in New Jersey. Other environmentalists have hailed the nomination and believe the events should not be attributed to Jackson.

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Last-Minute Ocean Conservation from Bush

Jan 6, 2009 by Matthew Madia

President Bush will announce today that he is conserving areas around remote island chains in the Pacific Ocean — showing that the president is indeed sprinting to the finish, but that not all of his last-minute maneuvering bares bad tidings for the environment. From The Washington Post:

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Happy Friday! EPA Announces Two Major Rollbacks

Dec 12, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Just like last week, the Bush administration is unveiling regulations on Friday hoping no one (other than industry lobbyists) will notice. The Environmental Protection Agency today announced two final regulations, or, more precisely, deregulations: one to allow companies to burn tons of hazardous waste and another to exempt factory farms from reporting the air pollution generated by animal waste.

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Bush Backs off Clean Air Changes, Finalizes Mountaintop Mining Rule

Dec 11, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Bush administration officials are changing their tune on two controversial regulations that would have weakened existing air pollution controls. According to both the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA will not finalize a rule to allow more power plant pollution near national parks and a rule changing how pollution is measured under the Clean Air Act's New Source Review program.

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Will Climate Change's Effect on Species Be Considered?

Dec 10, 2008 by Matthew Madia

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White House Says "No Surprises" in Last-Minute Rules

Dec 8, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Today, the USA Today editorial board and White House spokesman Tony Fratto duke it out over the issue of midnight regulations. USA Today takes aim at many pending and recently finalized Bush administration regulations stating, "Some of the rules look like favors to Bush allies in energy, mining or other industries; others track his ideology on guns or abortion." USA Today surmises the White House's motivation for the Bolten memo, issued in May 2008:

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Pentagon Must Clean-up Bases, Justice Department Says

Dec 5, 2008 by Matthew Madia

The Justice Department has sided with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on an intra-governmental dispute between EPA and the Department of Defense over toxic cleanup. For more than a year the Pentagon has ignored the instructions of EPA to clean up toxic sites at military bases. EPA issued final orders demanding the sites be cleaned up. EPA says the three most controversial clean-up sites (Maguire Air Force Base in New Jersey, Fort Meade in Maryland, and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida) may present "an imminent and substantial threat" to public health and the environment.

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