Citizen Health & Safety

Bush Suspends Minimum Pay for Contract Workers

Sep 8, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The White House announced that it is suspending its obligations under the Davis-Bacon Act to require a fair minimum wage for contractors working on the reconstruction and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

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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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Roberts Showed Prudence in Reg Reform Initiative

Although Supreme Court chief justice nominee John Roberts worked for an administration generally hostile to regulation, documents released by the Reagan Library from his time as White House counsel reveal that he raised considerable objections to at least one of the period’s far-reaching regulatory "reform" proposals.

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Questions About the Army Corps and Cost-Benefit

Sep 2, 2005 by Guest Blogger

As we just posted below, it appears from the PART assessments of the Army Corps of Engineers that USACE has been employing cost-benefit analysis in its internal decisions about projects and priorities. Has cost-benefit analysis -- a game rigged against the public interest -- distorted priorities in USACE and contributed to the failure to protect New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast areas affected by Hurricane Katrina? Here are some questions to ask USACE:
  • How were "benefits" measured?

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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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CPR Perspectives

Links to perspectives on risk and precaution from the Center for Progressive Reform CPR Perspectives: The Precautionary Principle

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Risk and Precaution Articles from Rachel's Newsletter

Links to news articles and analyses from Rachel's Environment and Health News, a newsletter from the Environmental Research Foundation. #823 -- Urban Legend: Precaution and Cholera in Peru, 04-Aug-05 #820 -- Isn't It Time We Regulated Chemicals?, 23-Jun-05 #811 -- Human Exposure and Health Hazards, Part 2, 17-Feb-05 #810 -- Human Exposure and Health Hazards, Part 1, 03-Feb-05 #801 -- The Chemical Wars, Final Part, 30-Sep-04 #800 -- The Chemical Wars, Part 3, 16-Sep-04 #799 -- The Chemical Wars, Part 2, 02-Sep-04 #798 -- The Chemical Wars, Part 1, 19-Aug-04

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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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Feds Plot Weak Pollution Rules for Old, Dirty Power Plants

Aug 31, 2005 by Guest Blogger

From the Washington Post: The Bush administration has drafted regulations that would ease pollution controls on older, dirtier power plants and could allow those that modernize to emit more pollution, rather than less. The language could undercut dozens of pending state and federal lawsuits aimed at forcing coal-fired plants to cut back emissions of harmful pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, said lawyers who worked on the cases.

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Plan-B Decision Delayed by FDA

Aug 29, 2005 by Guest Blogger

FDA officials announced that the agency will again delay its decision on the over-the-counter status of Plan B, or the "morning-after pill." The agency claims that it needs more time to evaluate how it will enforce an over-the-counter regulation. The agency also decided to arbitrarily raise the age limit for receiving Plan B without a prescription from 16 to 17. The agency was initially required to decide the Plan B OTC status in January, but the agency has delayed a decision ever since.

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