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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Americans Demand Focus on Domestic Policy

Sep 8, 2005 by Guest Blogger

USA Today is reporting the results of the latest Pew poll, in which a majority expresses its desire for a renewed focus on domestic policy: More than half of Americans now say it is more important for the president to focus on domestic policy — the first time since Sept. 11, 2001 that domestic matters have been viewed as a higher priority than the war on terrorism in polling by the Pew Research Center. Two-thirds said the president could have done more to get relief efforts going quickly, according to the survey.

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OIRA MEets over Risk-based Capital Guidelines

Sep 6, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OIRA met with financial groups on January 27, 2005 to discuss risked-based capital guidelines in the Office of Thrift Supervision. The Unified Agenda lists two rules regarding risk-based capital guidelines: Risk-based Capital Guidelines; Capital Adequacy Guidelines; Maintenance: Domestic Capital and Risk-based Capital Guidelines; Implementation of New Basel Capital Accord.

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PART of the Problem in New Orleans

Sep 2, 2005 by Guest Blogger

There are plenty of signs that the Bush administration failed to invest in projects that could have prevented the devastation in New Orleans — see this recap from the Center for American Progress for more. For another way in, be sure to look at the White House’s assessment of Army Corps of Engineers programs, using OMB’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART).

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OIRA Meetings on Brownfields, Oil Spills

Sep 1, 2005 by Guest Blogger

EPA and OIRA met over standard practices for "all appropriate inquiries" with the National Association of Home Builders on Aug. 23. OIRA and EPA also met with energy companies and SBA representatives on Aug. 26 and 29 over a Spill, Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) proposed rule.

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OIRA meets on animal feed rule

Aug 29, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OIRA met with animal feed associations and cattle associations from both the U.S. and Canada to discuss substances prohibited in animal feed. Loopholes in the mad cow disease regulations allow cow parts to be fed back to cows in animal feed products, thereby potentially spreading the disease among cows. This meeting is one of several recently held by OIRA on mad cow-related topics. The agency also recently met with industry over substances prohibited in human food products as well as on the prohibition of specified-risk materials.

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Paralysis by Analysis: Snowmobiles in Yellowstone

Aug 26, 2005 by Guest Blogger

A New York Times op-ed examines the Bush administration's decision to authorize a fourth study of the environmental impact of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, despite the wealth of scientific information already available:

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OIRA meeting with Rendering, Feed Industry

Aug 25, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OIRA met on Aug. 23 to discuss substances prohibited in human food with rendering industry representatives including the National Renderers Association, Valley Proteins, Kaluzny Bros. and Griffin Industries, Inc. Rendering is "the process of transforming waste from the meat industry into useable products for animal feeds and technical use," according to the NRA website. OIRA met over the same rule on Aug. 24 with the American Feed Industry Association.

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OIRA Meeting on EPA Rules

Aug 24, 2005 by Guest Blogger

On Aug 2, OIRA, EPA and SBA met with the Natural Resources Defense Council over EPS's Pretreatment Streamlining Rule.
OIRA and EPA met with the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance (HSIA) on July 27 to discuss dry cleaners residual risk.

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OIRA Meeting on Mad Cow Disease

Aug 24, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OIRA met with the North American National Casing Association on July 12 over the prohibition of specified-risk material for human food and the requirements for disposition of non-ambulatory cattle. Specified-risk material is the part of the cow most likely to transmit the mad cow disease prion. Currently regulation prohibits the use of specified-risk material in meat products. However, several loopholes to the regulation exist. Non-ambulatory cattle are essentially cattle that appear to be ill (i.e. they can't walk).

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Counting the Cost of Bush Reg "Reforms"

Aug 23, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Interesting scholarly article reviewing the Bush administration's distortions of the regulatory process, particularly the "reforms" championed by OIRA head John Graham: This article is a review of the regulatory process reforms championed by John Graham's OIRA. Rather than attempting to view them as pro-regulation or antiregulation, I believe it is more useful to ask to whom these various regulatory reforms give power in the regulatory process and whether or not they raise the cost of issuing a regulation. This paper will show that many of these reforms empower the President

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