New Posts

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...

read in full
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...

read in full
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...

read in full
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...

read in full
more news

In Wyoming, Reporting Environmental Damage Could Land You in Prison

Concerned Wyoming residents who want to protect their state’s beautiful natural resources and keep their families safe from harmful contaminants have been silenced.

Earlier this year, the Wyoming legislature passed a bill making it a crime for citizens to collect information about the environment and report concerns to their state or federal government.

read in full

We Can Prevent Health Problems from Air Pollution by Strengthening Standards and Stopping Budget Cuts

"My asthma is highly reactive to ozone. On days like this I can hardly walk across the room. My quality of life is trashed by ozone." This is just one of hundreds of personal stories about the devastating health impacts of air pollution that are posted on the American Lung Association’s State of the Air website.  

read in full

Tougher Ozone Pollution Standard, More Public Resources Needed to Help Americans Breathe Easier

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2015—Dirty air is unhealthy for everyone, but one type of air pollution – ozone – is especially dangerous to children, the elderly, those with diseases like asthma and heart conditions, and people living in poverty. In conjunction with Asthma Awareness Month, a new report and interactive map from the Center for Effective Government show how a tougher ozone standard and more public resources would create cleaner air for more than 206 million people in 46 states across the country.

read in full

Ten Years after Toxic Chemical Settlement, DuPont Failing to Keep Its Promises

UPDATE (Oct. 8, 2015): This week, one of the alleged victims of DuPont’s toxic cover-up won a settlement against the company. Jurors found that Carla Marie Bartlett contracted kidney cancer as a result of being exposed to C8 and awarded her $1.6 million. Kidney cancer is one of at least six diseases linked to toxic C8 exposure. The Ohio woman previously resided next to the same river that was contaminated by DuPont’s West Virginia Manufacturing plant.

read in full

Procter & Gamble Receives an “F” in Chemical Transparency

“Eco-friendly.” “Healthy.” “Responsible.” These are just a few of the labels used on household cleaning products to make them appear safe for consumers. But no one oversees how these terms are used or what they really mean. This becomes readily apparent when you scrutinize the ingredients on cleaning product labels to try to determine how safe and "green" they really are. One company – Procter & Gamble – is so bad at disclosing useful chemical information to consumers that it recently received an "F" from a national environmental health group.

read in full

Senate Committee Fails to Fix Flawed Chemical Bill

On April 28, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works reviewed proposed legislation from Sens. David Vitter (R-LA) and Tom Udall (D-NM) to revise the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), our nation's primary chemical safety law. Despite numerous attempts to constructively amend the flawed bill, the committee failed to fix the legislation and sent it on to the Senate floor.

read in full

Toxic Chemical Plagues Cleanup Crews Five Years after BP Oil Spill Disaster

Five years ago, an offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and causing the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. The BP oil spill fouled the Gulf with over 172 million gallons of crude oil. The aftermath of the spill is still visible on certain coastlines, and a toxic chemical that BP used to "clean up" the oil is still injuring people and wildlife in the region.

read in full

Two Years After Deadly West, Texas Explosion, New Interactive Map and Report Identify Widespread Chemical Risks to Residents, First Responders

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2015—When the West, Texas fertilizer facility exploded on April 17, 2013, it prompted communities, advocates, and the president to call for stronger chemical safeguards. But two years after the fatal disaster, a new interactive map and report from the Center for Effective Government find significant chemical risks in several states – dangers that first responders and residents may not know about.

read in full

The Administration's New Fracking Rule Has a Few Catches

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just released a long-awaited rule that regulates fracking on federal and tribal lands, the first revision to federal fracking standards in almost 30 years. BLM currently manages over 100,000 oil and gas wells – over 90 percent of which are fracked. The rule establishes minimum safeguards that must be followed when drilling occurs on federal or tribal lands.

read in full

Interactive Maps and New Report Show State Chemical Safety Policies at Risk from Proposed Federal Legislation

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2015—Two competing bills designed to revise the Toxic Substances Control Act were introduced last week. A new report and interactive maps from the Center for Effective Government unpack the impacts of the two bills. Reducing Our Exposure to Toxic Chemicals: Stronger State Health Protections at Risk in Efforts to Reform Federal Chemical Law discusses the failures of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 and the starkly different Senate bills that attempt to fix them.

read in full

Pages

Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

read in full

A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

read in full
more resources