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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Congress Grapples With Industry Influence at FDA

Efforts to free the Food and Drug Administration from the pharmaceutical industry's excessive influence seesawed between success and failure in the same week, as the House voted to ban drug company scientists from FDA advisory committees while an agency whistleblower revealed that a new drug safety board has been tilted in favor of the drug companies. New Drug Safety Board Biased Towards Industry

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As the climate changed...

Jun 13, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Although the White House is denying any link, the White House official exposed as having manipulated a scientific report on climate change has resigned. Agence France Presse gives the story a global political context missing from most news accounts:

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OIRA Meets Regarding EPA Mercury Draft Guidance

Jun 10, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OIRA met with several industry representatives, the Environmental Protection Agency Water Division and the National Association of Clean Water Agencies regarding the EPA Mercury Draft Guidance on June 6. Published in the federal register on March 15, the Clean Air Mercury rule is meant to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. However, under EPA's cap-and-trade program, the rule will create higher levels of mercury emissions in some areas.

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OIRA Meets Regarding BART Rule

Jun 10, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OIRA met with representatives of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Parks Conservation Association regarding a Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) regulation on June 3. OIRA also met to discuss the BART rule on April 13 and May 16 of this year. The rule, also known as the Clean Air Visibility Rule, would seek to limit regional haze by requiring power plants and factories to install the best available retrofit technology (BART) to control sulfur dioxide and other emissions.

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Washington: Open for business

Jun 9, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Christian Science Monitor has nice coverage of what we have been reporting for some time now: that the Bush administration and the GOP-controlled Congress are making Washington “more open to business than usual.” The article takes a big picture approach: In what could be the most business-friendly climate since the days of President McKinley, President Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress are moving to extend corporate ta

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NAS suppresses science paper at admin's request

Jun 7, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Associated Press is reporting that the National Academy of Sciences has suppressed a scientific assessment of the dairy industry's vulnerability to bioterror, after the administration requested the paper be delayed. The authors have argued elsewhere that these vulnerabilities demand government action to make us safer. It is only the latest example of the many ways that the homeland remains unsecured long after 9/11, because the Bush administration refuses to regulate the industries whose campaign funding propelled it into office.

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GOP Seeks Power to Restructure Entire Federal Government

The Bush administration's systematic dismantling of the public's protections could soon accelerate as Republican lawmakers prepare legislation that would permit the unrestrained restructuring of the entire federal government through results commissions and fast-track reorganization authority.

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Summary of the H.R. 2412, the Special Interest Lobbying and Ethics Accountability Act of 2005

On May 17, Reps. Marty Meehan (D-MA) and Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) formally filed H.R. 2412, the Special Interest Lobbying and Ethics Accountability Act (SILEA), a lobbying reform bill. The bill amends the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA) and focuses on four main areas of reform: enhancing lobby disclosure, slowing the revolving door, curbing excesses in privately funded travel, and strengthening enforcement and oversight of ethics and lobbying disclosure. This summary provides background on LDA and details on the bill.

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OIRA Meeting on Roof Crush Resistance

May 25, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OMB met with a roof crush consultant and Pauben, an auto-safety engineering group, on April 28, regarding NHTSA's roof crush rule. NHTSA is planning to revise its standard for roof crush resistance in the next year.

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OIRA Meets Regarding BART Rule

May 23, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OIRA met with representatives of Pacificorp power company, the White House's Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency regarding a Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) regulation on May 16. The rule, also known as the Clean Air Visibility Rule, would seek to limit regional haze by requiring power plants and factories to install the best available retrofit technology (BART) to control sulfur dioxide and other emissions. These emissions lead to visibility impairment, which is widespread throughout the national park system.

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