RegsTalk: The CSS Blog

By Better Markets A memo released by the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed all agencies to submit so-called guidance to the White House for review looks like an attempt to put up another major hurdle to sensible and essential regulations meant... Continue Reading

By Seth Moulton, Project on Government Oversight The government recently asked the public what a federal office that sits at the epicenter of major regulations should disclose about meetings it has with outside parties. This pivotal office reviews and changes regulations before... Continue Reading

By Sarah Reinhardt, Union of Concerned Scientists USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue has signaled he may be having second thoughts about a proposed rule that could force 755,000 work-ready adults off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The rule, which would restrict... Continue Reading

By Better Markets Much like the subprime bubble that sparked the 2008 financial crisis, there is a growing number of people who see the same thing happening with high-risk, low quality leverage loans.  With increasingly poor underwriting standards, rapid unregulated growth, and... Continue Reading

By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform One of the most successful environmental regulations in U.S. history is under attack from the Trump EPA – and its demise might be accomplished by shady bookkeeping. That is the conclusion of comments filed by Center for Progressive... Continue Reading

By Better Markets It’s easy to get distracted by the outrage-of-the-day coming from the Trump White House.  But a must-read article posted by the New York Times ahead of its publication in this Sunday’s magazine really reinforces the importance of looking beyond the latest... Continue Reading

By Katie Tracy, Center for Progressive Reform Workers should be able to earn a paycheck without putting their lives or their health and well-being on the line. Yet every day, an estimated 137 U.S. workers succumb to diseases caused by on-the-job exposure to toxic chemicals and... Continue Reading

By Bill Funk, Center for Progressive Reform Last week, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum to all agencies regarding compliance with the Congressional Review Act (CRA). This memo supersedes one issued in 1999 and pulls independent... Continue Reading

By Waterkeeper Alliance Siding with environmentalists, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Friday issued a decision directing the EPA to strengthen limits on toxic wastewater from power plants.  The Court’s ruling requires EPA to reevaluate modern wastewater... Continue Reading

By Bobby McEnaney, Natural Resources Defense Council Another court has denied the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to adopt flawed regulatory policies that run contrary to federal law. This time, a federal court on Friday issued a judgment blocking an attempt by the... Continue Reading

By Matt Schudtz, Center for Progressive Reform The federal Clean Water Act has been a resounding success as a tool for restoring our nation’s waterways and preserving wetlands and other vital components of our ecosystems. But that success depends, in part, on restricting... Continue Reading

By Jessica Knoblauch, Earthjustice Silencing scientists. Barring the public from the legal process. Even lying to the court. These shenanigans wouldn’t seem out of place as plot points in a John Grisham paperback. But the Trump administration’s determination to favor corporate... Continue Reading

By Tessa Ruff, National Women’s Health Network On March 26 and 27, the FDA convened a meeting of the General and Plastic Surgery Devices Panel to investigate the safety of breast implants following a reported link between textured implants and lymphoma, as well as a range... Continue Reading

By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists Pregnancy Advice: Caffeine’s ok. Some caffeine is ok. No caffeine. Breastfeeding Advice: Start solids at 4 months. Start solids at 6 months. Exclusively breastfeed for one year. First Foods Advice: Homemade baby food. Store-bought baby... Continue Reading

By Sharon Anglin Treat, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy With the endorsement on April 15 by a majority of the heads of government of its member states, the European Union has finally taken the formal step needed to move ahead with trade negotiations with the United... Continue Reading

By Andrew Linhardt, Sierra Club As the Washington Auto Show kicked off in early April, the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign — alongside our partners at Public Citizen, Interfaith Power and Light, and the Safe Climate Campaign — took the opportunity... Continue Reading

By Free Press AMAZING NEWS: In a 232–190 vote, the House of Representatives passed the Save the Internet Act, with one Republican crossing party lines and joining Democrats in voting for this crucial bill. Wednesday’s victory is a huge step forward in the fight for digital civil... Continue Reading

By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists Yesterday the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) published a letter to Administrator Andrew Wheeler making recommendations on the agency’s approach to updating the ambient air pollution standard for particulate... Continue Reading

By Mitchell Bernard, Natural Resources Defense Council A recent courtroom win for our ocean waters has affirmed part of the majesty of American democracy: No one, not even the president, is above the law. That’s especially important now. President Trump is waging the worst... Continue Reading

By Alexis Temkin and Olga Naidenko, Environmental Working Group A new analysis of Monsanto’s signature herbicide, glyphosate, released by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gives weight to studies... Continue Reading

By Julie McNamara, Union of Concerned Scientists From the gaping maw of coal baron greed slithers another brazen ploy. This time: guiding our nation’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to arrive at the stunning discovery that mercury spewed from coal plants is actually... Continue Reading

By Jennifer Sass, Natural Resources Defense Council Glyphosate is used in the U.S. at roughly 300 million pounds per year in agriculture, with about 90% for agriculture, and 10% for non-ag uses (Benbrook 2016). It gets on our lawns and gardens, our parks and playgrounds, our farm... Continue Reading

By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists Last week, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler talked to Congress. Members had questions about his recent changes to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards updates for particulate matter and ozone. Wheeler’s comments las... Continue Reading

By Kimberly Ong, Natural Resources Defense Council In a transparent attempt to restrict states’ powers to protect their own streams, rivers, wetlands, reservoirs, and springs, President Trump signed an executive order intended to limit states’ authority to enforce its water... Continue Reading

By Kathleen Rest, Union of Concerned Scientists It doesn’t take a health care professional, public health expert or environmental scientist to understand the value of clean air and the need for regulatory safeguards that protect our families and communities from toxic air... Continue Reading

By Craig Sandler, Public Citizen We need strong rules for Wall Street. When we don’t have them, Americans suffer. It happened with savings and loan association deregulation, which led to a real estate collapse; it happened with the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999, which led to... Continue Reading

By Anthony Gutierrez, Union of Concerned Scientists Watching the news last week as clouds of thick black smoke billowed over Houston, I worried about my family. They are surrounded by chemical plants. Hearing state and local officials saying there is no air quality issue, and... Continue Reading

By Waterkeeper Alliance President Trump plans today to sign an executive order that attempts to limit states’ role in approving permits required for oil and gas projects under the Clean Water Act, undermining federal law and stripping states of their ability to approve or deny... Continue Reading

By Natalie Mebane, Sierra Club This month will mark the 9th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. As we reflect on the worst oil spill in American history, we must not forget that 11 human lives were lost, countless animals were killed, and... Continue Reading

By Amit Narang, Public Citizen The White House agency in charge of reviewing regulations, the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), conspired with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to circumvent important rulemaking requirements – and ram through... Continue Reading

By Sally Hardin, Center for American Progress In a recent interview, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler said that access to clean drinking water across the globe is “the biggest environmental threat.” However, these empty words represent the extent... Continue Reading

By Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group More than 40 nations have banned or restricted more than 1,400 chemicals in cosmetics and other personal care products. So why are chemicals linked to cancer and reproductive harm still turning up in cosmetics sold in California? Using... Continue Reading

By Jim Lyons, Center for American Progress In September 2015, a landscape-level, science-based conservation effort developed through the collaborative work of 11 states, four federal agencies, multiple companies, and thousands of private landowners prevented the greater... Continue Reading

By Katie O’Reilly, Sierra Club In her 1997 book Living Downstream, biologist, mother, and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber compares the idea that as individuals, we can protect ourselves from environmental toxins to buying blueprints for bomb shelters. Steingraber writes... Continue Reading

By Better Markets As if it wasn’t enough that new CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger was doing her best to help predatory payday lenders, a federal judge in Texas decided to leave in place a stay on the compliance date of the payday lending rule. As a result of a ruling by U.S....