Political 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

Agency whistleblowers and experts at risk

Jul 8, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Two developments put at risk the agency workers who must draw conclusions contrary to industry's bottom line or who alert the public of malfeasance and inefficiency in government:

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How (un)safe are we?

Jul 7, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The bombings in London naturally reignite concerns about our own security against terrorist attacks. The NY Times is reporting that security measures in New York and across the country are being "tightened." How secure are we really? A recent report looked at the administration's failure to protect us from possible terror attacks on chemical plants, hazmat trucks, and more -- and linked those failures to the generous campaign contributions from the industries that the Bush White House is failing to regulate. Check it out at HomelandUnsecured.Org.

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Sunset perspective

Jul 7, 2005 by Guest Blogger

With the White House's release of a proposal to give itself the power to restructure government at whim through the use of sunset and results commissions, it's worth revisiting an online conversation with Osha Davidson, Rolling Stone reporter who covered the sunset/results proposals back when they were first threatened, from the blogs Booman Tribune and

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Fox in the henhouse at FERC

Jul 3, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The White House has named a former energy company lobbyist, who has a track record of subservience to the power industry, to head up the commission charged with regulating that industry. From CommonDreams.org:

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White House power grab: results/sunset commission

Jun 30, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The White House released a legislative proposal today that would enact its long-threatened sunset commission and results commission proposals.

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White House Power Grab Puts Public at Risk

Statement of Robert Shull, Director of Regulatory Policy & Adam Hughes, Budget Policy Analyst
The White House submitted a legislative proposal to Congress today that would imperil the balance between the executive and legislative branches by concentrating power in the White House free of democratic accountability and would expose long-standing public protections to powerful special interests and industry insiders.

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Hit list under fire again

Jun 28, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OMB's controversial hit list of regulatory protections to be weakened or eliminated was debated today before the Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee. (Read testimony by Public Citizen's Joan Claybrook here.) Although Rep.

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OMB Report on Regulation Misguided, Misleading

An annual draft report from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) misleads the public on regulatory safeguards and makes OMB appear poised to impose misguided anti-regulatory policies, OMB Watch and other public interest groups told the White House last week. About the Report

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Mad about mad cow

Jun 20, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The USDA promised 18 months ago to close a loophole in current policy that could let mad cow disease sneak through. To prevent mad cow, we must stop feeding cows tissue and blood from other cows; the loophole is that cattle are fed chicken litter (from chickens that, in turn, have been fed cow blood and other cattle proteins), cattle blood, and restaurant leftovers, all of which could transmit the deformed protein (or prion) that causes mad cow disease.

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Some climates never change

Jun 15, 2005 by Guest Blogger

So, the White House politico who was discovered to have doctored a climate change report -- even though he has no scientific training -- and then left (coincidentally, ahem) his job when the news broke has just days later taken a job at ExxonMobil. No wonder he went to ExxonMobil in particular: as the Wall Street Journal points out, "Openly and unapologetically, the world's No. 1 oil company disputes the notion that fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming. Along with the Bush administration, Exxon opposes the Kyoto accord and the very idea of capping global-warming emissions....

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