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

House Committee Blasts FDA for Delay on Antidepressant Warnings

Food and Drug Administration officials were forced before a House committee to defend their choice not to respond with precautionary measures despite mounting evidence from as early as 1996 that antidepressants could be causing increases in suicidality (both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts) in children.

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States Take Lead on Emissions Standards

Fearing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may stall or weaken federal regulation on diesel emissions, 11 states and the District of Columbia announced on Sept. 29 plans to implement California's standards for diesel fuel emissions as a backup to the federal regulation promulgated by EPA.

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Industry Influence Weakens USDA Dietary Guidelines

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which includes seven members with strong industry connections, recently released its recommendations for an update of Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Not surprisingly, the committee's recommendations for controlling intake of carbohydrates, sugars and fats were vague and weak, prompting 25 nutritionists to send a letter to HHS calling for stronger, clearer language.

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Court Declines to Bar Regionally Restricted Vehicle Recalls

The agency charged with keeping motor vehicles safe and reliable has been allowing automakers to restrict vehicle defect recalls to selected states rather than conduct recalls nationwide. Now a federal court has declined to bar such regionally restricted recalls. Regional Recalls

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So much for hours-of-service win...

Oct 4, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Remember the public interest victory in the hours-of-service case? A Department of Transportation agency proposed new rules governing the maximum number of hours in a stretch that trucking companies can force their workers to drive without rest or days off -- but the rule change would have permitted trucking companies to game the system and force their workers to drive much longer than even the old rules. Public Citizen won a court victory we described here.

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New Source Review rule hinders enforcement

Oct 1, 2004 by Guest Blogger

EPA's own Inspector General has released a report revealing that the New Source Review regulations (a regulatory rollback, discussed here, that essentially trades our clean air for the economic gain of power companies) are weakening EPA's enforcement activities: According to key enforcement officials, the NSR rule change is so dramatic that it has impacted OECA’s ongoing litigation, out-of-court settlements, and ne

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Graham -- let's flesh this out a bit

Sep 29, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Just can't let this go. The Graham profile in the Seattle Times is so broad that it may not be immediately apparent the extent to which Graham has set back regulatory policy and kept the agencies from serving the public interest. Here are some of those missing details:

OMB Role in Fuel Economy Change Exposed
Administration Asks Manufacturers for Regulatory Hit List
GAO Finds OMB Regulatory Review Not Well Documented
Graham Advises Agencies on Valuing Lives of Seniors
OMB Waters Down Standards on Factory-Farm Runoff

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Graham in the news

Sep 29, 2004 by Guest Blogger

In case you missed it, the Seattle Times has a story today about John Graham, head of the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. It is a broad profile of Graham's work in that office. For more details on his history and the "intellectual" underpinnings of his approach to his work in this administration, be sure to check out an excellent analysis put out by Public Citizen when Graham was nominated for the job. PubCit carefully documented a history of Graham taking corporate money and -- surprise!

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A record of destroying needed protections: yet more proof

Sep 29, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The latest evidence of the Bush administration's pattern of failing the public comes from the Heritage Foundation, no less. The kind folks at Heritage have actually quantified the rollback:

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More news on Bush environmental record

Sep 27, 2004 by Guest Blogger

In case you missed it: Saturday's Washington Post featured an in-depth look at the Bush administration's environmental record. Check out "Oil and Gas Hold the Reins in the Wild West: Land-Use Decisions Largely Favor Energy Industry," Washington Post, Sept. 25, 2004, at A1. This article, like other comprehensive retrospective analyses in the press of the Bush administration regulatory record, is listed and linked here on our website.

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