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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Democrats Failing on CO2 Regulation: Part 1

Jun 8, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The Bush administration probably wouldn't spend so much time obfuscating greenhouse gas regulation if it knew Congressional Democrats were just as willing to do the job. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) is pushing legislation which would forbid states from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. The proposal would, as The Washington Post put it today, "kneecap" the effort of 12 states to institute their own program. Under the Clean Air Act, those states need EPA to grant them a waiver in order to begin regulating. The proposal removes EPA's authority to grant those waivers.

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Democrats Stand-up to Bush's EPA Budget Cuts

Jun 7, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Back in February and March, Reg•Watch blogged about President Bush's proposed budget which called for cuts in EPA funding. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson has been submissive in allowing the White House to hack away at his agency's resources.

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Proposal Would Forbid State Tailpipe Emissions Programs

Jun 5, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The Blog for Clean Air has discovered draft legislation by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) which would prevent states from developing greenhouse gas emission regulations. California and other states are waiting for word from EPA on whether they may institute their own tailpipe emissions programs. Boucher's legislation would stop states' efforts dead in their tracks. The Clean Air Act includes language specifically forbidding states from pursuing emissions regulations for motor vehicles but does provide a caveat allowing EPA to grant waivers.

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EPA Risk Assessment Not Worth the Wait

Jun 4, 2007 by Matthew Madia

On Sunday, The Dallas Morning News ran a story detailing the flaws in a new EPA risk assessment. Federal agencies use the process of risk assessment to evaluate the extent to which public hazards may adversely affect health, safety and the environment.

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Latest Watcher

May 31, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Be sure to check out the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter, The Watcher. Regulatory policy articles this time: States Battle Administration on Vehicle Emissions Senate Watching Carefully as Risk Guidelines Reemerge

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States Battle Administration on Vehicle Emissions

At least 12 states are considering developing regulations for vehicle greenhouse gas emissions that would exceed federal standards. These states cannot promulgate the rules because the primary federal framework for air pollutant regulation, the Clean Air Act, reserves the federal government's right to block state efforts. Critics are charging the Bush administration with impeding the environmental progress of states and delaying meaningful regulation of vehicle emissions.

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White House Reviews Smog Standard

May 29, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is reviewing under Executive Order 12866 a revised air pollutant rule. The rule is the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone, a.k.a. smog. Over the past several months, Reg•Watch has been tracking the growing support for tightening this critical air pollution standard. Scientists and medical professionals have been lining up to voice their support, but EPA has been cautious in expressing its opinion on more protective smog regulation.

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Governors Tell EPA to Get Out of the Way

May 21, 2007 by Rick Melberth*

Two governors let loose on the Bush administration in an editorial in the Washington Post today. California's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Connecticut's Jodi Rell called for Bush and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to get out of the way and let states put programs in place if the federal government doesn't want to act on global warming.

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Latest Watcher

May 16, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Be sure to check out the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter, The Watcher. Regulatory policy articles this time: House Hearing Asks Interior: Entangled in Politics, or Enlightened by Science? Cost-Benefit Provision Latches onto Fuel Economy Standard Senate Passes FDA Reform Bill, Expands User Fees

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Move along, Nothing to See Here

May 15, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, President Bush made comments in the Rose Garden concerning greenhouse gases and global warming. In his speech, one may have expected the President to announce a new landscaping project turning the Rose Garden into the Orchid Garden due to quickly rising global temperatures. Instead, Bush announced a new Executive Order which requires collaboration among EPA, the Departments of Energy, Transportation and Agriculture, OMB, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality in pursuing new regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

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