Industry Misuses Data Quality Act to Challenge EPA Choices

Two industry groups recently filed challenges, under the Data Quality Act, against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) methodological choices. Both challenges focus on evaluations of human health risks from specific chemicals. The petitions specifically question documents that address emissions of Metam Sodium, a pesticide, and Dioxin/Furan, used to produce cement. The petitions challenge EPA procedures, however, which are policy decisions made within the agency -- and not data -- and as such lie outside the scope of the Data Quality Act (DQA).

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Missed Opportunities in Auto Safety

Two new regulatory developments fail to do enough to make our roadways safe:
  • The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued revised rules governing the maximum number of hours that companies can force their truck drivers to work without rest.

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Legislative Update: Federalism Bills

Legislative developments brewing in the 109th Congress could alter the relationships between the federal and state governments, thus potentially distorting important regulatory protections. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act Revisions

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Easing Burdens on Scientific Evidence

Be sure to catch the latest article from CPR member scholar Lisa Heinzerling, "Doubting Daubert, forthcoming in the Brooklyn Journal of Law & Policy. In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the Supreme Court announced that it was liberalizing the rules on admissibility of expert scientific evidence by rejecting a requirement that such evidence be generally accepted in the scientific community. Daubert has had, Heinzerling notes, just the opposite effect from the one the Court said it intended. Among other reasons:

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    A Table of Requirements for Federal Administrative Rulemaking

    A table of requirements that agencies must consider when adopting a rule, prompted by the concerns of the ABA Rulemaking Committee, Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, over the protracted nature of the current rulemaking process. Download Mark Seidenfeld, "A Table of Requirements for Federal Administrative Rulemaking," 27 Fla. St. U.L. Rev. 533 (2000).

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    2005 OIRA Regulatory Accounting Report

    Downloads for OIRA’s 2005 annual regulatory accounting report: Draft report Final report

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    2004 OIRA Regulatory Accounting Report

    Downloads for OIRA’s 2004 annual regulatory accounting report: Draft report Final report

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    2003 OIRA Regulatory Accounting Report

    Downloads for OIRA’s 2003 annual regulatory accounting report: Draft report Final report

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    2002 OIRA Regulatory Accounting Report

    Downloads for OIRA’s 2002 annual regulatory accounting report: Draft report Final report

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    2001 OIRA Regulatory Accounting Report

    Download OIRA’s 2001 final annual regulatory accounting report.

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