Citizen Health & Safety

The pattern of failure has a timeline

Nov 2, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The Bush administration's pattern of failure to use regulatory policy in the public interest has been spelled out in a timeline, by the good folks over at In These Times magazine. Check it out!

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Dreier Pushes Amendment to Place DHS Above Law

Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) is promoting an amendment to pending intelligence overhaul legislation that would exempt the Department of Homeland Security from all federal law in the course of securing the nation's borders. Dreier is championing this amendment in the conference committee that is working to resolve differences in the House and Senate versions of a bill to implement reforms suggested by the 9/11 Commission. Text of the Dreier Amendment Sec. 3131. Waiver of Laws Necessary for Improvement of Barriers at Borders

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Interior Gives Exclusive Appeal Rights to Industry

A proposed rule from the Department of Interior would grant those in the hydroelectric industry the exclusive right to appeal rulings about how dams are licensed and operated. The rule could save the hydroelectric industry hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements while effectively cutting Indian tribes, states, federal agencies and environmental groups out of the appeals process.

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Court Rejects Ban on Snowmobiles in Yellowstone

Rejecting a National Park Service ban on recreational snowmobile use in the Yellowstone area as a "predetermined political decision," a federal court in Wyoming found that the Clinton-era snowmobile ban violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

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Mercury Emissions Adversely Affect Minorities

The cap-and-trade method for curbing mercury emissions will greatly harm those from the Great Lakes region, particularly American Indians, according to a new white paper released by the Center for Progressive Regulation (CPR).

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EPA Plans for TRI Burden Reduction

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently held a public meeting to announce two plans for reducing the burden of reporting for the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The first, scheduled for sometime in December, would propose simple changes to the TRI reporting forms in an effort to streamline the process. The second rulemaking, scheduled for June 2005, would contain a more substantial programmatic change, although EPA has not yet determined the exact nature of the change.

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Court Rejects Ban on Snowmobiles in Yellowstone

Rejecting a National Park Service ban on recreational snowmobile use in the Yellowstone area as a “predetermined political decision,” a federal court in Wyoming found that the Clinton-era snowmobile ban violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. With gaps in the reasoning large enough to drive a snowmobile through, the decision will most likely not be the last word on the appropriateness of the NPS decision in 2001 to ban snowmobiles. A Tale of Two Court Cases A Ban and a Rollback

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Details of the Administrative Actions Challenged in the Snowmobile Cases

The following chart details the sequence of regulatory actions in the Clinton snowmobile ban and the subsequent Bush rollback of the ban. Initial Background Fund for Animals sues NPS, alleging Yellowstone winter use plan violates NEPA and ESA 1997 settlement agreement - NPS to prepare EIS on snowmobile use and trail grooming in Yellowstone 2001 Snowmobile Ban 1999 Draft EIS In response to lawsuit, NPS studies winter use in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and John D.

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The tragedy of the commons (under Bush, that is)

Oct 29, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The sharp-eyed observers over at In These Times magazine have been publishing on-line a series of retrospectives they have called "The Bush Record: A Pattern of Failure." (Yeah, we thought that was a good title, too.) Today's installment starts with the environment, which it brilliantly links with attacks on public education (privatizing via vouchers) as a general attack on the commons.

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Science suppressed again: National Parks edition

Oct 29, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The N.Y. Times is reporting that the National Parks Service has suppressed and failed to act upon a report insisting that NPS needs to "do much more to preserve biological diversity and ecological integrity in the national parks," according to a member of the panel that produced the report. That member, Dr. Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer who is explorer in residence at the National Geographic Society, said she and her colleagues had expected that the National Park Service would distribute the report and take action on its findings. Instead, she said, "it has just languished."

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