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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EPA May Tighten Smog Standards

Sep 16, 2009 by Matthew Madia

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson announced today that she will review and possibly revise the national air quality standard for ozone, or smog. The Bush administration announced the standard on March 12, 2008, but clean air advocates and good government groups accused Bush officials of ignoring scientific conclusions in the face of political pressure. Today, EPA intimated that it will more closely align the regulation to the underlying science.

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Obama Administration Proposes Vehicle Emissions/Fuel Economy Program

Sep 15, 2009 by Matthew Madia

Following through on a pledge made by President Obama in May, the administration proposed new standards today that would cap carbon dioxide emissions from cars and light trucks in an attempt to stem society’s contribution to global warming.

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Sunstein Confirmed as Obama's Regulatory Chief

On Sept. 10, the Senate confirmed Cass Sunstein as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Sunstein's nomination had been stalled by several senators who were concerned about the nominee's views on such issues as animal rights and citizens' right to bear arms. The Senate confirmed Sunstein by a 57-40 vote.

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OMB Watch Statement on Cass Sunstein's Senate Confirmation

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2009—On Sept. 10, the Senate confirmed Cass Sunstein as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). OIRA is a small but powerful office that reviews regulations and approves government forms and surveys that require the public to divulge information. The Senate confirmed Sunstein by a 57-40 vote.

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Public Comments Lost after Regulations.gov Glitch

Sep 1, 2009 by Matthew Madia

A glitch on the federally run Regulations.gov website prevented more than 100 users from successfully submitting comments to several rulemaking agencies, according to Nextgov.com reporter Aliya Sternstein. Unfortunately, even though the service disruption occurred in late July, the problem is far from resolved.

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Labor Quashes Bush-Era Risk Assessment Proposal

Aug 31, 2009 by Matthew Madia

The Department of Labor (DOL) today officially announced that it will not go forward with a controversial proposal that would have made it more difficult for the government to write new worker protection rules.

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Vehicle Emissions Rule Sent to White House for Review

Aug 27, 2009 by Matthew Madia

In May, President Obama announced that his administration would set new, nationwide standards for vehicle fuel efficiency in order to reduce tailpipes’ contribution to global warming. The administration said it would use a plan developed by the state of California as a model.

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Electronic Reporting Will Lead to Safety Gains, FDA Says

Aug 20, 2009 by Matthew Madia

Tomorrow, the Food and Drug Administration will publish two proposed regulations that hold the potential to improve access to and analysis of safety information provided by the medical product industry (drug, device, and biologic makers, and others in the supply chain). Both regulations will be open for comment for 90 days.

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Oil Industry Lobbying for Changes to GHG Inventory

Aug 17, 2009 by Matthew Madia

The oil industry is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to change its plans for establishing a greenhouse gas emissions inventory. In April, EPA proposed a regulation that would require facilities to report greenhouse gas emissions above a certain threshold. The data would then be made available in a publicly accessible, online database. (More on the proposed regulation here.)

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Judge Lets Mountaintop Mining Rule Stand, Cites Rulemaking Flaws

Aug 13, 2009 by Matthew Madia

A federal judge will not allow the Obama administration to dispense with a Bush-era regulation that eased environmental restrictions on mountaintop mining operations.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. declined to grant the Interior Department’s request to reject the rule and send it back to the agency.

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