Citizen Health & Safety

On Workers' Memorial Day, Let's Remember that Regulatory Delay Can Be Deadly

Apr 25, 2012 by Randy Rabinowitz

 At long last, a committee on Capitol Hill held a hearing to showcase how important health and safety standards are in protecting the lives of all Americans. On April 19, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, convened the hearing to highlight the devastating impact of regulatory delay on the lives of workers and their families. Driving the point home, relatives of workers who died on the job packed the hearing room, holding pictures of their late loved ones for all to see.

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Cutting Costs and Courting Contamination: What Food Safety Budget Cuts Mean for Public Safety

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the federal regulator of meat, poultry, and egg products, faces resource limitations that make it more difficult for the agency to ensure the safety of the food supply. New plans to cut costs could have severe consequences for public health and safety.

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Spotlighting the Federal Election Commission's Efforts to Keep Political Spending in the Shadows

"[P]rompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters," the U.S. Supreme Court wrote in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. On March 30 – more than 26 months after Citizens United was decided – a federal judge struck down a Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulation that had been preventing disclosure.

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Coal Ash Limbo: Groups File Lawsuit to Move EPA While Congress Moves to Restrict Agency Authority

Apr 10, 2012 by Katie Greenhaw

Last week, a coalition of environmental and public health groups filed a lawsuit to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the waste created when coal is burned (commonly known as coal ash). Coal ash is disposed of in almost every state, and areas near disposal sites can face increased risks of cancer and other diseases caused by drinking water contamination and exposure to toxins. The suit calls for EPA to set a deadline to adopt federal coal ash protections.

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Letting the Fox Guard the Henhouse -- Literally

Apr 6, 2012 by Randy Rabinowitz

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) made the front page of The New York Times this week for its proposal to change the way chickens and other poultry are inspected in processing plants before they are sent to supermarkets and butcher shops all across the country. In January, the agency published a controversial new proposal that would shift responsibility for inspections away from agency inspectors and allow employees of the slaughtering plants to judge their own handiwork. We’re not the only ones who think asking chicken producers to police themselves might be a bad idea.

 

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Doing Little, Changing Everything: EPA's Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants

Nearly five years after the U.S. Supreme Court directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine whether carbon dioxide should be regulated as a "pollutant" under the Clean Air Act, the agency finally issued a proposed standard for carbon emissions from newly constructed power plants.

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Product Safety Regulator May Lack Resources to Implement New Mandates, Safeguards

Although the nation's premier consumer product regulator, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), has been crippled by budget cuts and staffing losses in the past, it has seen increases in its resources and responsibilities since 2008. However, advocates argue that a much larger influx is required to ensure that the CPSC has the resources it needs to protect Americans and eliminate dangerous products from the marketplace.

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Supreme Court Rules Against EPA in Wetlands Enforcement Case

Mar 27, 2012 by Katie Greenhaw

The U.S. Supreme Court last Wednesday ruled against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a decision that will affect clean water enforcement throughout the country and could impact a range of agency enforcement programs. The Supreme Court held that parties can challenge what are known as administrative compliance orders issued under the Clean Water Act (CWA). These are orders the agency issues to ensure environmental standards are complied with before enforcement actions are initiated in court. The Court’s decision could deter EPA from issuing voluntary compliance orders under the CWA because of the potential increase in legal challenges.

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OMB Watch Joins Lawsuit Seeking Disclosure of Chemicals Used in Natural Gas Extraction in Wyoming

Mar 26, 2012 by Sofia Plagakis

On March 26, OMB Watch, along with the Powder River Basin Resource Council, Wyoming Outdoor Council, and Earthworks, filed a petition requesting that the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) disclose information about chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. The case, now before Wyoming's Seventh District Court, could set the tone for future cases in the more than 10 states with chemical disclosure rules similar to Wyoming's.

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The Regulatory Freeze Act: Legislation to Make the World More Dangerous and the Economy Weaker

The so-called Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act, reported out of the House Judiciary Committee earlier today, is the clearest example yet of just how broken the national debate on public protections has become. This bill is ostensibly about getting Americans back to work, but the bill contains no provisions to address unemployment. Instead, it would gut the system of public protections that underpins our entire economy.

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