Open, Accountable Government

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

FERC Rulemaking to Restrict Information Access

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on September 5, 2002 announced plans to aggressively restrict public access to government information it deems sensitive. Shortly after the September 11 attacks FERC limited access to huge amounts of information that it controls and released an initial policy statement addressing this issue in October 2001.

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OMB Speaks on Data Quality, Again

September 5, 2002, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a memo to the President's Management Council concerning its review of agency draft data quality guidelines. OMB identifies three process issues that it believes require greater cross agency conformity, and provides specific language it wants incorporated into each agency's final guidelines. The 3 process issues and OMB’s recommendations are:

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Different Opinion on Chemical Security

OMB Watch responded to a recent Washington Times Op-ed, entitled "Toxic road map for terrorists" with this letter to the editor. Angela Logomasini ("Toxic road map for terrorists," Op-Ed, 9/4/2002) advocates eliminating public access to risk management plans (RMPs) because it is possible the information could be misused. Perhaps she would agree with some in industry that propose government no longer collect RMPs since the information may fall into the wrong hands.

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EPA's Next Step in Data Quality

As part of its efforts to develop and implement Data Quality Guidelines, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced plans to develop “Assessment Factors” to assist the agency in evaluating the quality of information and data that it receives from external sources.

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CBO 10-Year Budget Update Shows $5.6 Trillion Surplus Now Only $1.0 Trillion

The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) annual "Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update," released on August 27, reports federal budget deficits through the end of 2005 and a relatively modest 10-year total surplus and has added more fodder to the debate in Washington over who’s to blame for the $5.4 trillion drop in the 10-year surplus forecast since January 2001.

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Chemical Security Heats Up

Sen. Jon Corzine’s (D-NJ) Signers of the letter included industry groups such as the American Chemistry Council, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers , the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Edison Electric Institute.

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Freeze The Tax Cuts And Just Say No To More Tax Cuts

It's time to seriously work towards freezing the tax cuts that are scheduled to be phased in 2004, and oppose all new tax cuts. This is one of the most important issues facing us as a nation, and will affect our lives for decades to come.

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Data Quality Guidelines Continue to Churn

Even though the deadline of May 1st for agencies to produce drafts of their Data Quality Guidelines has long past, several agencies and departments have only recently completed and published their drafts for public comment. Among the recent drafters were several major departments such as the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Fish & Wildlife Service, Office of Surface Mining, National Parks Service, and U.S. Geological Survey.

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Sensitive but Unclassified

Last week officials from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requested a meeting with various public interest groups concerned with public access to government information. The purpose was to discuss OMB’s upcoming efforts to define the category of "sensitive but unclassified" for government information. This vague term generated a great deal of confusion and concern among information advocates when addressed in a memo prepared at the request of Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff.

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The Need to Reduce Risks Demonstrated

A recent chemical accident reinforced the importance of Sen. Jon Corzine’s (D-NJ) pending legislation, the Chemical Security Act (S.1602). In Crystal City, MO, a hose used to remove chlorine from freight cars ruptured creating a toxic cloud that sickened dozens. The leak began around 9:30 in the morning on August 14, 2002 and was stopped around noon. Even though light wind and steady rain kept the cloud from spreading beyond the relatively sparsely populated area near the leak, hundreds of people were evacuated and over 50 people were treated for exposure.

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