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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Obama Neuters Bush Rule on Endangered Species

Mar 4, 2009 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, President Barack Obama issued a memo regarding a Bush-era regulation that weakened the Endangered Species Act. The rule was one of Bush’s many midnight regulations; it went into effect Jan. 15, less than a week before Bush left office.

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Endangered Species Rule Targeted in House Spending Bill

Feb 27, 2009 by Matthew Madia

The House version of the FY 2009 omnibus appropriations bill, passed on Feb. 25, contains a provision that could reverse a Bush-era rule that weakened the Endangered Species Act. The regulation, published jointly Dec. 16 by the departments of Interior and Commerce and effective as of Jan. 15, was pilloried by environmentalists who say it will cut experts out of the process for listing species as endangered.

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Bush Mercury Rule Undone; What Comes Next?

Feb 24, 2009 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, the Supreme Court declined to hear arguments defending EPA’s previously invalidated Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR), effectively putting one of President Bush’s worst air quality decisions out of its misery.

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EPA Inspector General Rips Program on Chemical Risks in Communities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in need of significant improvements in the implementation of the agency's Risk Management Program, according to a new report from the EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG report highlights the need for greater accountability for the Clean Air Act program. However, EPA has refused to provide program data online, reducing the public's ability to ensure the safety of vulnerable communities.

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Nada Known about Nano – Reporting Requirement Inches Forward

As the nanotechnology industry continues to grow, government policies are slowly being developed to gather basic information on potential threats to the environment and public health. For years, the federal government has promoted the nanotech industry, even though little has been known about the environmental and public health impacts of the materials. Recent actions by California, Canada, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will require companies to report data on potential threats from the use of nanotechnology.

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EPA Preparing to Battle Climate Change on Multiple Fronts

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), led by new administrator Lisa Jackson, is taking its first steps toward tackling global climate change. Jackson has announced her intent to review several Bush-era policies that limited the agency's ability to curb greenhouse gas emissions through regulation.

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Climate Change Rules Among Obama's First

Feb 13, 2009 by Matthew Madia

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to issue two climate change proposals in the near future. EPA has sent the White House two draft proposed rules: one that would mandate an increase in the proportion of biofuels in the national gasoline supply and another that would create a registry for greenhouse gas emissions.

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Obama EPA to Reverse Bush Air Pollution Loophole

Feb 12, 2009 by Matthew Madia

The Environmental Protection Agency will delay the effective date of a rule finalized under the Bush administration that would add a loophole to the agency's New Source Review program. EPA's decision comes in response to a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). EPA also cites a memo from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel which granted agencies leeway to address some Bush regulations.

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OMB Watch Executive Director Contributes to Book on Sustainability

The Environmental Law Institute has released the Agenda for a Sustainable America, a comprehensive assessment of U.S. progress toward sustainable development and a roadmap of necessary next steps toward achieving a sustainable America. OMB Watch Executive Director Gary D. Bass contributed to the book, in a chapter titled "Public Access to Information, Participation, and Justice: Forward and Backward Steps Toward an Informed and Engaged Citizenry."

Order Agenda for a Sustainable America

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Congress Again Sets Sights on Toxics Right to Know

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) recently reintroduced the Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act (H.R. 776), which would restore the thresholds for reporting of toxic pollution under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. A 2006 rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raised the thresholds significantly. An identical version of the bill failed to move out of committee in 2008.

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