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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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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More White House Mischief

Jan 10, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Be sure to check out comments filed by the Citizens for Sensible Safeguards coalition on OMB's Proposed Bulletin on "Good Guidance Practices" -- click here, or wait for tonight's issue of The Watcher for more information. But wait -- there's more.

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OMB Proposed Bulletin on Risk Assessment

Download OIRA's Proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin (Jan. 9, 2006).Download OIRA's Proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin (Jan. 9, 2006).

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Comments on OMB's Proposed Bulletin on "Good Guidance Practices"

Download comments filed by Citizens for Sensible Safeguards

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White House 'Good Guidance' Proposal Threatens Agencies, Vital Public Information

Washington--January 9, 2005--A recent White House proposal threatens federal agency efforts to provide important information to the public and stakeholders, by opening guidance documents to politicization and industry influence, a coalition of public interest groups told the White House today.

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An Unacceptable Power Grab

The Proposed Bulletin represents an unacceptable power grab by the White House. The principles and traditions of the American political order abhor the excessive centralization of authority that OMB would win with the Proposed Bulletin, which contravenes Congress’s role in delegating responsibility and discretion to the agencies and assumes the right to amend the Administrative Procedure Act by executive fiat.

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Making the Government Less Effective

OMB claims that it seeks to make agency guidance practices “more transparent, consistent, and accountable,” but the Proposed Bulletin fails to serve those goals and is, instead, a roadmap for government that is less responsive to the public’s needs.

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A Solution in Search of a Problem

OMB claims that agencies are using general policy statements, handbooks, manuals, compliance guides, nonlegislative rules, and other informal matter as a vehicle for policy edicts that should go through the APA’s notice-and-comment rulemaking process. Instead of addressing what could be the underlying causes of resorting to subterfuge rulemaking, OMB throws the baby out with the bathwater by adding new burdens to the production of information that the public needs.

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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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House Democrats Put Forth Reform Package

Jan 6, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

House Democrats David Obey (D-WI), Barney Frank (D-MA), David Price (D-NC), and Tom Allen (D-ME) have produced a 14-point package to reform House rules. The package is cosponsored by 120 House Democrats, including Minority Leader Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Whip Hoyer (D-MD).

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