Industry Influence and Interference

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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How Failure is Touted as Accomplishment

The OIRA report to Congress includes a list of what the White House touts as its “Regulatory Reform Accomplishments.” Far from being accomplishments, many of the actions on this list actually represent the gutting of important public safeguards or the release of watered-down protections.

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The Problems With Any OIRA Hit List

OIRA’s hit list project is a back-door circumvention of an honest administrative process that invites corporate special interests to take an eraser to any regulations they don’t like – even if, or especially if, the rules are in place to protect the public health, safety, civil rights, or environment.

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Manufacturing an Excuse

OIRA claims that we need the anti-regulatory hit list in order to reverse the decline in manufacturing jobs. OIRA has manufactured an excuse that does not hold up. Manufacturers do not need this extraordinary rejection of the government’s duty to serve the public interest.

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SBA Priorities for Hit List

<p>Click here to download the SBA Office of Advocacy's response to the 2004 hit list, identifying its priorities for small business.

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OIRA Final 2004 Report: Releasing Hit List

<p>Click here to download the final version of the 2004 annual report on regulatory costs and benefits, in which OIRA released the industry hit list, the White House hit list, and the White House fast-track list.

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OIRA Draft 2004 Report: Vehicle for Soliciting Hit List

<p>Click here to download the draft 2004 cost-benefit report, which was used to solicit industry nominations for the 2004-05 manufacturing sector hit list of regulatory protections to be rolled back.

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Listeria: How the food industry gets away with murder

Jan 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Be sure to check out the latest report from the Consumer Federation of America: “Not ‘Ready to Eat’: How the Meat and Poultry Industry Weakened Efforts to Reduce Listeria Food-Poisoning.” It’s the harrowing story of the Bush administration reversing course from the Clinton administration and weakening efforts to protect the public from Listeria, a deadly foodborne pathogen, in order to serve its friends in the food industry.

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Congress's Revolving Door

Dec 16, 2004 by Guest Blogger

In case there was any doubt as to who is benefiting from the Medicare Modernization Act, the bill's chief architect, Rep. Billy Tauzin, has left Congress to become a lobbyist for brand name drug companies. Read the story in the New York Times.

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Rocket Fuel Ingredient Ignites Controversy

Perchlorate, a key ingredient in rocket fuel that is associated with developmental delays, can be found in lettuce from Florida, bottled water from California, and organic milk from Maryland, according to initial data from the Food and Drug Administration. Although it is too soon to determine whether perchlorate contamination of food and water is truly widespread, the FDA’s early results are nonetheless the latest chapter in a dispute pitting environmental and public health against industry influence over science and the prerogatives of the Department of Defense.

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FCC Rigs Cost-Benefit Report to Side With Industry on Cable A La Carte

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sided with the cable and big media industries against regulation mandating à la carte cable service, justifying its position with a cost-benefit analysis rigged against à la carte options. The vision of cable à la carte is that cable customers could pick and pay for only the channels they want. Most American consumers can only purchase cable service in large tiered packages, like “basic” and “expanded” service packages, which require them to pay for channels they never watch in order to receive the channels they do want.

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