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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Polar Bear Decision Deadline Set by Court

Apr 29, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Last night, a federal court ruled the Bush administration must make a decision by May 15 on whether to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Three advocacy groups — the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Greenpeace — sued the Department of the Interior in order to force a decision after months of delay.

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Fuel Economy Proposal: Higher Mileage, State Preemption

The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters, announced April 22 a proposed new rule to raise fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks. In December 2007, Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act, which required revisions to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The new rule, if implemented, would be the first significant improvement in fuel efficiency standards since the CAFE program's inception in 1975.

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Congress Begins Prodding OMB to Release Whale Protection Rule

Apr 24, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Today, the Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill that would force the White House Office of Management and Budget to stop sitting on a regulation to protect the North Atlantic right whale. The rule has been held up at OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) since Feb. 2007. The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most critically endangered marine species in the world. Although the species has benefited from federal protections for years, it is still having difficulty recovering. Collisions between whales and shipping vessels are a particularly serious problem.

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Tighter Vehicle Fuel Economy Rules Announced

Apr 23, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, the Department of Transportation proposed new standards to improve vehicle fuel efficiency under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program. In December, Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act which requires the revisions to the CAFE standards.

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Polar Bear Decision Continues to Be Pushed Back

Apr 22, 2008 by Matthew Madia

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is once again changing its tune on when it will announce plans to protect the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. The agency has said it needs 10 more weeks to make the decision, according to the Associated Press. The legal deadline for making the decision was Jan. 9. At that time, FWS, which is an agency within the Department of the Interior, said it would make its decision in early February. The latest announcement of delay indicates the decision may be pushed into early July at the earliest.

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White House Gains Influence in Toxic Chemical Assessments

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced changes to its process for assessing the human health effects of common chemical substances. The revised process will allow the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to play a larger role in the evaluation of the substances.

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EPA: They Get You Coming and They Get You Going

Apr 9, 2008 by Matthew Madia

When EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and the White House get together to talk about environmental regulations, it seems they often decide to blatantly ignore federal law. Recently, EPA has refused to let California regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and set a new standard for ozone that dismisses the advice of the agency's scientific advisors. Both decisions ignore plain language provisions in the Clean Air Act, and both were made under pressure from the White House Office of Management and Budget.

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Bush Administration Can't Be Bothered with Endangered Species

Mar 24, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Internal Bush administration policies are intentionally undermining the Endangered Species Act, according to a Washington Post investigation. As a result, species protection activity has all but stopped inside Bush's Department of the Interior. One policy instructs officials at the Fish and Wildlife Service — the Interior Department agency responsible for most Endangered Species Act decisions — to basically ignore public requests for species protections:

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Public Demands Answers on Executive Branch Transparency

Mar 19, 2008 by Matthew Madia

OMB Watch recently conducted an informal survey asking people to identify questions they would like to ask candidates for federal office. The survey focused on questions related to government transparency. After more than two thousand people responded to the survey, the results are in. Responses show that, more than anywhere else, Americans want greater transparency in the Executive Branch, particularly the White House. Based on the survey, here are the top five questions we hope voter groups, media outlets, and the general public will ask candidates: 1) Manipulation of Facts

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Endocrine Disruptors Still a Mystery

Mar 18, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Researchers are investigating the Potomac River's most unusual inhabitants: Male fish that grow eggs like female fish. According to an article in today's Washington Post by reporter David A. Fahrenthold, "Along the Potomac, researchers have long suspected that hormone-mimicking chemicals were the cause of the 'intersex' fish. The first of these creatures, male fish with eggs growing in their sex organs, were noticed in a rural West Virginia tributary in 2003."

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