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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Court Rejects Ban on Snowmobiles in Yellowstone

Rejecting a National Park Service ban on recreational snowmobile use in the Yellowstone area as a "predetermined political decision," a federal court in Wyoming found that the Clinton-era snowmobile ban violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

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Mercury Emissions Adversely Affect Minorities

The cap-and-trade method for curbing mercury emissions will greatly harm those from the Great Lakes region, particularly American Indians, according to a new white paper released by the Center for Progressive Regulation (CPR).

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Court Rejects Ban on Snowmobiles in Yellowstone

Rejecting a National Park Service ban on recreational snowmobile use in the Yellowstone area as a “predetermined political decision,” a federal court in Wyoming found that the Clinton-era snowmobile ban violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. With gaps in the reasoning large enough to drive a snowmobile through, the decision will most likely not be the last word on the appropriateness of the NPS decision in 2001 to ban snowmobiles. A Tale of Two Court Cases A Ban and a Rollback

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Details of the Administrative Actions Challenged in the Snowmobile Cases

The following chart details the sequence of regulatory actions in the Clinton snowmobile ban and the subsequent Bush rollback of the ban. Initial Background Fund for Animals sues NPS, alleging Yellowstone winter use plan violates NEPA and ESA 1997 settlement agreement - NPS to prepare EIS on snowmobile use and trail grooming in Yellowstone 2001 Snowmobile Ban 1999 Draft EIS In response to lawsuit, NPS studies winter use in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and John D.

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The tragedy of the commons (under Bush, that is)

Oct 29, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The sharp-eyed observers over at In These Times magazine have been publishing on-line a series of retrospectives they have called "The Bush Record: A Pattern of Failure." (Yeah, we thought that was a good title, too.) Today's installment starts with the environment, which it brilliantly links with attacks on public education (privatizing via vouchers) as a general attack on the commons.

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Nixon EPA chief criticizes Bush "war on the environment"

Oct 24, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Don't miss Mother Jones's feature interview with Russell Train, EPA chief during the Nixon administration. Here's a glimpse: We’re at war in Iraq. They tell us we’re at war against terrorism. I’d say that George W. Bush has declared war on the environment. And I think that people ought to stand up and be counted in opposition to that. . . .

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Measure the rollback in your own state

Oct 21, 2004 by Guest Blogger

How much have you been affected by the Bush administration's rollback of public health, safety, and environment protections? How much does your state need improved protections? Check out the excellent feature My Backyard from the Center for American Progress: a clickable map that allows you to go state by state and look up data on pollution, workplace health and safety, fuel economy, and more.

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RegWatch Roundup

If you haven't been reading RegWatch, our new regulatory policy weblog, here's a look at what you've been missing. Regulatory Policy Failures So what's the federal government doing to protect us from bio-terrorism?

Weakening needed rules, after meeting with the food industry!
Promoting a Bioshield program that is inadequate to the task!

But surely our nuclear facilities are being secured against terrorism threats. Right?

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Gaps in Homeland Security Benefit Bush Campaign Funders

The Bush administration has weakened, opposed, or failed to initiate proposals to address security gaps that leave chemical and nuclear plants, hazardous material carriers, shipping ports, and drinking water facilities vulnerable to terrorist attacks, according to a new report that links these failures to Bush campaign funding from the very industries that oppose needed regulation.

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Recent Studies Show Lack of Enforcement of Environmental Laws

Enforcement of federal environmental law has declined significantly during the Bush years, according to several recent studies, even as the 30-year trend of environmental improvement has begun to reverse course. Declining Enforcement

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