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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more news

FDA Knew of Drug's Dangers, Failed to Stop Its Marketing

Feb 14, 2008 by Matthew Madia

FDA's inability to ensure the safety of imported products is in the news again today. According to The New York Times, a plant in China, uninspected by FDA, is responsible for a contaminated ingredient in Heparin, a blood-thinning drug common in dialysis, heart surgeries and chronic care hospitals. At least four people have already died from using the drug.

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Sign up for Reg Watch in Review

Feb 11, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Reg•Watch in Review is a biweekly email update of recent news from the regulatory world. Reg•Watch in Review highlights regulatory process issues and stories about environmental, product safety, workplace safety, and scientific integrity policy. Preview today's edition here, or sign up below. Email Address: * First Name: * Last Name: *

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Big Oil Looks to White House to Weaken Ozone Standard

Feb 8, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Big oil is knocking on the White House's door looking for sympathy over an EPA proposal to tighten the national standard for ozone, aka smog. On January 25, representatives from ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute met behind closed doors with officials from EPA and the White House Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). (Frank O'Donnell at the Blog for Clean Air has the full story.)

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Uncertainty over Plastics Chemical -- Legitimate or Contrived?

Feb 8, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Rep. John Dingell's Energy and Commerce Committee recently began an investigation into the use and safety of bisphenol-A, a chemical commonly found in a host of consumer products including plastic bottles. In a Feb. 6 article, ABC News reporter Justin Rood provides an update on exactly what the committee has been looking into.

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Oil and Gas Companies Win, Polar Bears Lose

Feb 7, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Last week, Reg•Watch blogged about two pending decisions at the Department of the Interior: one to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and one to allow oil and gas drilling in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's coast. Yesterday, Interior announced the first of the two decisions. According to The Washington Post, the department awarded "$2.6 billion in winning bids from companies seeking to drill for oil and gas in Alaska's Chukchi Sea." The polar bear decision is still pending, even though the statutory deadline for making the decision passed weeks ago.

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Polar Bear Trails Oil and Gas in Race to a Decision

Jan 31, 2008 by Matthew Madia

[Reg•Watch Update: Oil and Gas Companies Win, Polar Bears Lose Feb. 6] The Department of Interior is all set to approve Feb. 6 a lease program for oil and gas companies to operate in Chukchi Sea off Alaska's coast. The timetable for a decision on whether to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act is much looser. The agency was required to make its decision on the polar bear by Jan. 9, but it is now aiming for "the very near future," according to AP.

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Minnesota Pesticide Rule Weakened after Industry Meetings

Jan 29, 2008 by Matthew Madia

A recent article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune reminds us industry meddling in the regulatory process is not solely a federal problem, it is occurring at the state level as well: After three years of research, [Minnesota] was ready to impose the nation's first water-quality limit for acetochlor, a potent farm chemical that was washing into rivers and lakes.

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Open-Gov Questions Candidates are Afraid We'll Ask

Jan 29, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Elections are the time when politicians pay the most attention to people and issues, and therefore the best time to ask them questions about how they plan to govern. OMB Watch wants your help in figuring out the best questions on government transparency that can be put to the candidates. Take just a few minutes to answer our survey and vote on your five favorite questions on the issue of government transparency and openness. We will then share the top questions with the news media and other organizations that have direct contact with candidates. Government openness affects every issue from budget and taxes, to the regulatory process, to non-profit advocacy. The range of questions tries to reflect this breadth so check them and see which are most important to you. Take the Open Government: What We Need To Know Survey today.

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House Members Begin Investigation of Plastics Chemical

Jan 25, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee began an investigation into the use and federal regulation of bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical commonly found in a host of consumer products including CDs and baby bottles.

Reps. John Dingell (D-MI) and Bart Stupak (D-MI) wrote to seven manufacturers of infant products inquiring as to the chemical's use:

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Industry Pushing for Drug Marketing Loophole

Jan 23, 2008 by Matthew Madia

In November, Reg•Watch blogged about an FDA proposal that would allow drug companies to market drugs for unapproved uses by passing out journal articles and other studies. In a letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, Rep. Henry Waxman — whose committee had discovered the proposal — complained that, by creating the loophole, drug companies could promote their drugs using studies they fund themselves, free from FDA oversight.

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