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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The Keystone Pipeline: The Mirage of Jobs

Dec 22, 2011 by Sofia Plagakis

Last week, Congressional Republicans slipped provisions into a payroll tax bill that would try to force the President to make an early decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project. Under the bill, President Obama would face a 60-day deadline to rule on the project, which has not yet received the legally required economic, environmental and safety reviews.

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House Attack on Public Protections Continues with Passage of the REINS Act

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2011—The House today passed the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY), represents an extreme attack on safeguards that protect our environment, food, children's toys, workplaces, health, civil rights, and economy.

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House Passes Regulatory Accountability Act in Attempt to Make It More Difficult to Protect the Public

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2011—Today, the House passed the so-called Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA), which was sponsored by Reps. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Collin Peterson (D-MN). The bill, if passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama, would make it far more difficult to protect the public from environmental, health, safety, and economic hazards.

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Regulatory Accountability Act Threatens Essential Public Protections

For the past six decades, our nation's system of public protections has developed safeguards that protect us from health and safety threats. Now, however, the misleadingly titled Regulatory Accountability Act could turn this system on its head, allowing more special interest influence and inviting endless rounds of litigation.

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Communities Across the Nation Struggle to Combat Air Pollution

Though the Clean Air Act and rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reduced national air pollution levels, hundreds of communities around the country still struggle with dangerously poor air quality. Released on Nov. 7, Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities is an investigative journalism project that raises awareness about these communities. The project includes a series of in-depth stories and an interactive mapping tool that raise important questions at a time when Congress is seeking to weaken the act and its enforcement.

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Congressional Budget Office Says Deregulation Will Not Create Jobs

Nov 18, 2011 by Jessica Randall

On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report that concludes that deregulation will not create jobs. The report is the latest piece of evidence that the ongoing congressional attacks on public protections are misguided, at best.

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Regulatory Accountability Act Would Undermine Crucial Protections for the American People

Nov 17, 2011 by Katherine McFate

Eliminating lead in children's toys. Requiring seatbelts in automobiles. Reducing coal dust in mines. Preventing unsafe drugs and foods from entering the marketplace. Outlawing predatory loan rates and lending practices. If the bill deliberately mislabeled the Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) had been put in place in 1960, none of these protections for the American people could have been developed.

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Coal Ash Spill in Lake Michigan Heats Up the Debate over Public Protections

Nov 2, 2011 by Katie Greenhaw

On Oct. 31, a landslide at the Wisconsin-based We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant sent piles of coal ash, along with dredging equipment and debris, into Lake Michigan. Thankfully, there were no injuries, but the incident is reminiscent of the disastrous 2008 coal ash spill in Kingston, TN – where a failed impoundment released 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash that buried a community and severely contaminated a nearby river – and raises concerns about how to regulate the storage and disposal of coal ash.

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Updated: Possible Senate Shenanigans on the REINS Act

Nov 2, 2011 by Rick Melberth*

There are rumblings that as soon as today, the Senate GOP may begin to offer up the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act (S. 299) as an amendment to, or a substitute for, bills moving to the Senate floor for a vote. Such a move would limit the public's ability to have a say on this damaging legislation.

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House Coal Ash Bill Is a Threat to Public Health

Oct 14, 2011 by Katie Greenhaw

The House passed by a vote of 267-144 the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act (H.R. 2273), which would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to defer to states with respect to the regulation of coal combustion residuals, or coal ash, and limit federal oversight. The problem with leaving the regulation of coal ash to the states is that most do not have standards in place to protect against the dangers of uncontrolled coal ash, according to an August report from Earthjustice and the Appalachian Mountain Advocates.

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more resources

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

The Keystone Pipeline: The Mirage of Jobs

Dec 22, 2011 by Sofia Plagakis

House Attack on Public Protections Continues with Passage of the REINS Act

House Passes Regulatory Accountability Act in Attempt to Make It More Difficult to Protect the Public

Regulatory Accountability Act Threatens Essential Public Protections

Communities Across the Nation Struggle to Combat Air Pollution

Congressional Budget Office Says Deregulation Will Not Create Jobs

Nov 18, 2011 by Jessica Randall

Regulatory Accountability Act Would Undermine Crucial Protections for the American People

Nov 17, 2011 by Katherine McFate

Coal Ash Spill in Lake Michigan Heats Up the Debate over Public Protections

Nov 2, 2011 by Katie Greenhaw

Updated: Possible Senate Shenanigans on the REINS Act

Nov 2, 2011 by Rick Melberth*

House Coal Ash Bill Is a Threat to Public Health

Oct 14, 2011 by Katie Greenhaw

Pages

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

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

Blowing Smoke: Chemical Companies Say “Trust Us,” But Environmental and Workplace Safety Violations Belie Their Rhetoric

Gasping for Support: Implementation of Tougher Air Quality Standards Will Require New Funds for State Agencies

Citizen Health & Safety Topics

Recent Reports

Living in the Shadow of Danger: State Scorecards

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

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