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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Graham Weakened Safeguards, Gutting Gov't Capacity to Protect Public

Robert Shull, Regulatory Policy Director
Long before he came to Washington, Graham was well known as an industry-funded researcher who was actively involved in producing elaborate theories to justify weakening the government's ability to protect the public. Defenders of his nomination argued that Graham would buck that trend and place the public interest over corporate special interests in his new role. Five years later, we now know just how wrong they were.

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Graham to be Feted by Industry Lobbyists

Jan 25, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Well, the corporate special interests really did appreciate being placed above the public interest -- so much so, they wanted to put their money where their mouth is and host a reception for outgoing OIRA administrator John Graham. From the Washington Post: Did you mark your calendars next week for a "farewell reception" Tuesday "honoring John Graham ," the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget?

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Update: "Is Industry Pulling EPA's Strings?"

On Jan. 23 Thomas Sullivan, chief counsel for advocacy with The Small Business Administration (SBA), contacted OMB Watch in response to "Is Industry Pulling EPA's Strings?", an article recently published in The Watcher that describes a troubling pattern of close cooperation and extensive communication between the SBA and the Environmental Protection Agency around reducing chemical reporting under the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), in order cut down on governmental paperwork for companies. Sullivan asked that OMB Watch clarify that the 1997 investigation by SBA's Inspector General into possible unethical actions around the TRI by SBA lawyer Kevin Bromberg, who has previously advocated for an industry coalition on TRI, found no evidence of inappropriate action. During his conversation with OMB Watch, Sullivan acknowledged that all of the facts cited in the article about recent interactions between EPA and SBA are correct. The article has been updated to reflect SBA's request.

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The Graham Files

New from OMB Watch: The Graham Files, a compilation of OMB Watch's analysis and news reports from John Graham's tenure as administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

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Making Our Food Less Safe

Jan 23, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The Detroit Free Press reports on a new industry-led effort to ban state and local governments from limiting genetically engineered products in their communities. In response to local initiatives in towns and counties in California and New England that ban raising genetically-engineered crops, state legislatures in18 states have put forward proposals "that would bar towns and counties from enacting local legislation to regulate genetically engineered seed." Initiatives have already passed in 14 of the 18 states.

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Is Industry Pulling EPA's Strings?

Correspondences obtained by OMB Watch between the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raise significant questions about the influence SBA exerted over EPA's decision to pursue its current proposals to reduce chemical reporting under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

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Reading about Risk

Jan 10, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Click here for a deeply insightful report from Public Citizen on many of the policy issues now at stake in the White House's new Proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin. Published when John Graham was nominated to head OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, it tracks the relationship of corporate special interest money and a cottage industry of aggressively manipulating the discourse of risk to pursue anti-regulatory ends. It includes a very thoughtful engagement with the risk scholarship of Graham and his ilk.

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Statement on Sago Mine Disaster

By Robert Shull and Gary Bass
The deadly mine disaster that took place in Sago, West Virginia represents an enormous tragedy. It is now natural to wonder not just whether the mining company provided adequate protections for workers but also whether the federal government has done enough. If recent history is any guide, those answers aren't likely to reassure the public.

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West Virginia Mine Tragedy: In the Days to Come

Jan 4, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration will investigate the causes and circumstances of the West Virginia coal mine tragedy. Members of Congress are also calling for oversight hearings, which may be all too necessary, if MSHA's history is any guide.

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Regulatory Year in Review: 2005

A round-up of the key developments in regulatory policy we have covered in 2005. In Congress | In the White House | Other Major Developments In Congress

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