Setting and Enforcing Regulations

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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more news

EPA Air Toxics Rule Will Spur Job Growth

Jun 15, 2011 by Cassandra Lovejoy*

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule to limit toxic chemical emissions from power plants will create between 28,000 and 158,000 jobs in the next four years, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

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Snowe Anti-Reg Amendment Fails, but with a Majority

Jun 9, 2011 by Matthew Madia

A legislative amendment intended to delay new public protections and roll back existing regulations failed in the Senate today. The amendment, championed by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), is the same legislation that derailed a small business aid bill last month.

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FDA Chides House Republican’s “Body Count” Amendment

Jun 7, 2011 by Matthew Madia

An amendment introduced by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) would hogtie the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by forcing the agency to wait for public health crises to happen before it could act. "This amendment would require that consumers actually be harmed before FDA can take certain actions to protect the public health,” the agency said.

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EPA Rules Don’t Kill Jobs, They Save Lives

Jun 1, 2011 by Matthew Madia

Environmental standards finalized under the Obama administration are expected to yield extraordinary benefits while imposing relatively small costs on businesses, according to a new paper by the Economic Policy Institute. “The combined annual benefits from all final rules exceed their costs by $32 billion to $142 billion a year,” the paper, Tallying up the Impact of New EPA Rules, concludes.

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Agencies Release Preliminary Plans for Retrospective Reviews

On May 26, a wide range of federal agencies released 30 preliminary plans outlining steps each intends to take to meet requirements for reviewing existing regulations, reducing burdens on business, and expanding public participation in the rulemaking process. The plans are part of the Obama administration's efforts to examine ways to reduce regulatory costs and identify outdated and ineffective rules.

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EPA Delays Life-Saving Rule, Cites White House Order

May 17, 2011 by Matthew Madia

In response to pressure from industry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is backing off of new clean air standards for industrial boilers. The standards, as finalized in February, would prevent “2,600 premature deaths, 4,100 heart attacks, and 42,000 asthma attacks” if implemented, according to EPA.

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FDA Cracking Down on Dangerous Food Imports

May 6, 2011 by Matthew Madia

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued two new standards May 4 intended to protect Americans from potentially contaminated foreign food.

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Push to Cut Oversight of Businesses Roils Senate

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) is pushing legislation that would make it more difficult for government agencies to set health, safety, environmental, and economic standards that protect the American people. Snowe is using the debate over her bill to reinforce untrue stereotypes about regulation's impact on the economy.

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White House Announces Next Steps on Regulatory Review

Apr 27, 2011 by Matthew Madia

White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator Cass Sunstein issued a memo April 25 instructing agencies to make public their preliminary plans for reviewing existing rules and to finalize those plans by August.

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Snowe Bill Threatens Small Business Programs, and the Entire Regulatory Safety Net

Apr 19, 2011 by Matthew Madia

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) had a bit of a kerfuffle over a regulatory reform bill Snowe is pushing that would burden regulatory agencies with more paperwork and make it more difficult for them to protect the public. Snowe is trying to attach her bill as an amendment to a small business aid bill.

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