White House 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

NSR: A Second Bite at the Apple

Oct 20, 2005 by Guest Blogger

With slim chances of passing in Congress, a controversial change to the designation of new source review is now snaking its way through the regulatory system. The regulation would allow power plants to make modifications to existing equipment without installing new pollution technology if their hourly emissions rates do not increase. By changing the way power plant emissions are calculated from an annual output to an hourly output, plants would be allowed to pollute more per year by operating for longer hours. From the New Standard:

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Gone With the Wind

Oct 17, 2005 by Guest Blogger

John Graham, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the White House Office of Management and Budget, will be leaving that post to become dean of the RAND Graduate School, effective March 1. Perhaps he will teach his students to do a better job in public policy than he did at OIRA. “John Graham comes to RAND with an outstanding track record," RAND insists, but his legacy at the White House is a brutal one for the public:

OMB Role in Fuel Economy Change Exposed
Administration Asks Manufacturers for Regulatory Hit List

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OIRA Meetings on HexChrome, Dry-Cleaning Rules

Oct 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OIRA met with chemical industry representatives on Sept. 26 to discuss "the economic effects on co-residential dry cleaning facilities of proposed EPA regulations under consideration." The rulemaking in question is presumably the forthcoming proposed NESHAP rule for perchloroethylene dry cleaning facilities residual risk standards. OIRA also met on Oct. 3 to discuss OSHA's rulemaking on occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium with SBA's Office of Advocacy, representatives of the metal finishing, aerospace and steel industries as well as Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

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EPA May Be Next for Power to Waive Law

The push to establish an Imperial Presidency kicked into overdrive when Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) introduced a bill that would give the Environmental Protection Agency the power to waive or weaken the law for matters related to Hurricane Katrina.

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No-Bid Contracts: a No-Good Idea

Sep 29, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Be sure to check out the latest article from two GW law professors on efforts to make no-bid contracts and other erasures of procurement law the rule rather than the exception in natural disasters and other crisis events. From the abstract:

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OMB Watch Testifies on Sunset/Reorganization

Sep 28, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OMB Watch testified yesterday before a subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee against House bills that would implement the White House's proposal for mandatory program sunsets and powers to reorganize government at will. >Read the press release >Download the testimony

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Testimony on H.R. 3276 and H.R. 3277, Sunset/Reorganization Bills

Testimony on the House bills implementing the White House's proposal for government shutdown powers via automatic sunsets and for reorganization authority. Download the testimony from the Sep. 27, 2005 hearing before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce and Agency Organization of the House Committee on Government Reform.

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OMB To Expand EPA Guidance Reviews

Sep 23, 2005 by Guest Blogger

According to InsideEPA (subscription only), OMB is planning an unprecedented expansion of its review authority that will include reviews of almost all agency guidance documents, further stymieing agency efforts to implement new protections. From the article:

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Recent OIRA Meetings

Sep 23, 2005 by Guest Blogger

On Sept 14, OIRA met with representatives from the computer and electronics industry, including Panasonic, Hewlett Packard and Intel, to discuss a final rule regarding cathode ray tubes.
On Sept. 15, OIRA met with Environmental Defense regarding the prevention of significant deterioration of nitrogen oxide.
On Sept. 21, OIRA met with the family member of a TWA Flight 800 victim over a proposed Federal Aviation Administration rule on fuel tank flammability.

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Don't Mess With Texas (Unless You're Homeland Security)

Sep 22, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Department of Homeland Security's ">decision to waive all law in order to expedite construction of border area fencing near San Diego now has some landowners in Texas worried that their private property rights are endangered. Read more.

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