RegsTalk: The CSS Blog

By Larissa Liebmann, Waterkeeper Alliance The Trump administration claims to be all about giving states greater freedom and responsibility. However, the administration suddenly sings a very different tune when states use their power to stand up to powerful polluters. Trump’s EPA... Continue Reading

By Celine McNicholas, Economic Policy Institute The Trump-appointed National Labor Relations Board proposed a rule last week that would rob graduate teaching assistants and other student employees of the rights to organize and collectively bargain. This is just the most recent... Continue Reading

By Katie Tracy, Center for Progressive Reform Tomorrow (September 20), I’m standing up for workers’ rights by marching to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., as part of the Global Climate Strike. I’ll be walking in solidarity with the students and youth... Continue Reading

By Dave Cooke, Union of Concerned Scientists Today, Secretary Elaine Chao (Department of Transportation) and Administrator Andrew Wheeler (EPA) officially released their attack on California’s Advanced Clean Car standards, which reduce global warming emissions and tailpipe... Continue Reading

By Lara Ettenson, Natural Resources Defense Council To do its part in mitigating climate change, the United States must drastically reduce carbon pollution by 2050. Energy efficiency—using less energy to get the same (or better) services like heat and light—plays a huge role by... Continue Reading

By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists Some modest good news: the proposal to restrict the use of science in air pollution, chemical safety, water quality, and countless other decisions at the EPA has been delayed yet again. At a House Science Committee hearing this... Continue Reading

By Brian Young, National Consumers League American consumers receive 200 million robocalls per day, and that number appears to be growing. As the number of illegal robocalls increases, so do the odds for a scammer to find a victim to cheat out of their savings. In 2019, Americans... Continue Reading

By Elliot Mincberg, People For the American Way In West Virginia Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis (CWP) Fund v. Bell, decided in August, Trump 4th Circuit judge Julius Richardson wrote a 2-1 decision that reversed the Department of Labor Benefits Review Board (BRB) and reinstated an... Continue Reading

By Paul Cort, Earthjustice The future of the nation’s clean car protections is on the table, and Andrew Wheeler, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is moving forward with a plan that will unleash tailpipe pollution across the country. The Trump administratio... Continue Reading

By David Doniger, Natural Resources Defense Council President Trump seems dead set on blowing up the historic clean car peace treaty forged ten years ago between the automobile industry, the federal government, and leading states. Bizarrely, the Trump team is barreling ahead to... Continue Reading

By Julie Vogtman, National Women’s Law Center It’s a day ending in y and Donald Trump is still president, so naturally I have some bad news to share. The administration that brought you a Secretary of Education who opposes students’ rights, a Secretary of Energy who said... Continue Reading

By Vijay Limaye and Kim Knowlton, Natural Resources Defense Council We’re used to hearing about the effects of climate change on our environment and natural systems: how it’s raising sea levels, intensifying hurricane storm surges, worsening droughts, and prolonging wildfire... Continue Reading

By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists Trump administration officials at the US Environmental Protection Agency have made several moves that undermine the longstanding process that the agency uses to ensure that independent science informs ambient air pollution... Continue Reading

By Natural Resources Defense Council For half a century, California has been the nation’s leader in fighting dangerous air pollution from cars and trucks, using its right under the Clean Air Act to set its own emission standards. Today, Trump declared that his administration will... Continue Reading

By Joel Mintz, Center for Progressive Reform Late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) quietly took a major step to undercut the enforcement of our federal pollution control laws. In a publicly released but little publicized memorandum, DOJ’s Associate Attorney... Continue Reading

By Joseph Daniel, Union of Concerned Scientists Utility resource plans, which often take the form of “Integrated Resource Plans” (IRP), are a business plan, of sorts, for utilities. It lays out what utilities plan on doing to meet customer’s demands. In California, the process... Continue Reading

By Francine Kershaw, Natural Resources Defense Council NRDC and the broader environmental community has come out in force to urge the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale from deadly entanglements... Continue Reading

By Ken Kimmell, Union of Concerned Scientists For years, President Trump has decried the Mueller investigation as a “witch hunt.” Putting aside whether that characterization was fair, the Trump justice department has now initiated a witch hunt of its own—an investigation into... Continue Reading

By  Ketura Persellin, Environmental Working Group This year’s defense spending bill – the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA – now being considered by Congress, is an unprecedented chance to regulate the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS, which hav... Continue Reading

By Gabriela Salas, National Women’s Health Network Last month, the Trump administration finalized a radical new rule as part of their larger attack on immigrant communities. Known as the “public charge” rule, it’s a particularly cruel and short-sighted example of the... Continue Reading

By Noah Horowitz, Natural Resources Defense Council President Trump has been talking a lot lately about light bulbs and complaining that they make people look orange, are toxic, and cost too much. He’s sadly mistaken on all fronts. Let’s correct the record. Consumers are very... Continue Reading

By Waterkeeper Alliance The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule today rolling back protections for millions of acres of wetlands, vernal pools, and other waterways. The rule opens the door for more pollution and toxic waste dumping in rivers,... Continue Reading

By Natural Resources Defense Council The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers officially repealed the Clean Water Rule today, undoing critical protections for streams, wetlands, and other smaller bodies of water at risk of pollution. The rollback... Continue Reading

By Erik D. Olson, Natural Resources Defense Council We’ve known for years that 6 million Americans’ tap water is contaminated with PFOA and PFOS, just two of thousands in a class of “forever” chemicals known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), at levels above the U.S.... Continue Reading

By Garett Rose, Natural Resources Defense Council The Trump administration just released its Final Environmental Impact Statement for oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This document, like the draft it is based one, is a slapdash attempt to skirt the... Continue Reading

By Jennifer Sass, Natural Resources Defense Council This week, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed a directive instructing the agency to significantly reduce animal testing by 2035. The agency also awarded $4.25 million to four universities to advance the development of... Continue Reading

By Kristi Pullen Fedinick, Natural Resources Defense Council The Trump EPA is planning to significantly reduce the number of animals used in chemical testing over the next 16 years. Administrator Wheeler has signed a directive that will eventually eliminate these tests and reduce... Continue Reading

By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists Three former high-ranking NOAA officials filed an official complaint yesterday asking for a comprehensive investigation into multiple violations of the NOAA Scientific Integrity Policy. “Recent actions to censor NWS scientists put... Continue Reading

By Carlos Carroll, Union of Concerned Scientists Sadly, we have grown accustomed to seeing political candidates denying the reality of established scientific facts, such as those that underpin our understanding of evolution and climate change. Science denial is even more... Continue Reading

By Christopher Williams, American Rivers President Trump’s first term is winding down, and the final year of any presidential term sees a flurry of proposed rules and other regulatory actions that seek to cement that president’s vision and legacy.  Unfortunately, the legacy of an... Continue Reading

By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists At a hearing tomorrow in the House Oversight and Reform Committee, the primary makers and users of PFOA and PFOS, 3M, DuPont, and Chemours, will be testifying about their roles in the PFAS contamination fiasco. This follows a July... Continue Reading

By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists Senior NOAA political staff objected to orders to “fix” weather forecasts to conform with the president’s claim that Hurricane Dorian would impact Alabama, the New York Times reports. Then Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened... Continue Reading

By Environmental Working Group For decades, 3M was a leading producer of the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS. As early as the 1950s, 3M’s own studies showed that PFAS chemicals built up in blood, and by the 1960s, 3M’s own animal studies showed the potential for harm.... Continue Reading

By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists The mission of the National Weather Service is to provide “weather, water, and climate data, forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property and enhancement of the national economy.” And its hard-working employees... Continue Reading

By Barry Zigas, Consumer Federation of America More than a decade after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship at the height of the financial crisis, the Trump Administration’s Treasury Department on September 5 released its long-awaited report on mortgage... Continue Reading

By Matt Kent, Public Citizen Just before Labor Day weekend, Acting Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella made clear that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) planned on accelerating its efforts to strip away key worker protections. In remarks at the DOL Labor Day celebration, Pizzella... Continue Reading

By Jessica A. Knoblauch, Earthjustice It’s been a particularly terrible year for bees. While the nation’s honeybee populations continue to plummet, Trump’s EPA has announced it’s allowing the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor back on the market. In addition... Continue Reading

By Jennifer Sass, Natural Resources Defense Council This spring EPA issued its Proposed Interim Registration Review Decision, PID (Relevant documents here, and in the EPA Docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361-2340).  In this document, EPA reaffirms its mis-classification of glyphosate as... Continue Reading

By Shanna Devine and Katie Tracy, Public Citizen and the Center for Progressive Reform On Labor Day weekend, it’s easy to get caught up in big sales or planning one last hoorah before summer ends. It’s also easy to forget about the millions of workers who labor tirelessly to... Continue Reading

By Don Anair, Union of Concerned Scientists The Trump administration has been on a collision course with California, and it appears that collision is imminent. An administrative action to undermine the authority granted to the state by the Clean Air Act to protect its citizens... Continue Reading

By Noah Horowitz, Natural Resources Defense Council In an ill-advised and illegal action, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced today it will proceed with rolling back energy-saving standards for everyday light bulbs. The rollback will lead to higher energy bills for homes and... Continue Reading

By Austyn Gaffney, Sierra Club Forecasters are predicting that Hurricane Dorian, which has devastated the Bahamas as a Category 5, will be a strong Category 4 when it sideswipes Florida’s eastern coast on Tuesday, before swirling north toward Georgia and the Carolinas.... Continue Reading

By Sonya Lunder, Sierra Club This week, Sierra Club joined dozens of environmental and health scientists and advocates in demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protect women and children from perchlorate – an industrial chemical that contaminates drinking... Continue Reading

By Dave Cooke, Union of Concerned Scientists Four years ago, we noted that auto manufacturers were well on their way to meeting the 2025 vehicle efficiency standards set under the previous administration, with a number of vehicles  overachieving on their targets. Since then,... Continue Reading

By Elliot Mincberg, People For the American Way Trump 7th Circuit judges Amy Coney Barrett, Michael Brennan, Michael Scudder, and Amy St. Eve joined the 7th Circuit majority in refusing to reconsider a three-judge decision, in which Brennan participated, which overruled a prior... Continue Reading

By Natural Resources Defense Council The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today proposed—yet again—to scrap protections that curb methane leaks from oil and gas operations, the largest source of this greenhouse gas in the United States. Pound for pound, methane is the... Continue Reading

By Virginia Cramer, Sierra Club The Washington Post broke news yesterday that Trump has ordered the Forest Service to roll back protections for the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. As the Post noted: “The move would affect more than half of the world’s largest intact temperate... Continue Reading

By David Doniger, Natural Resources Defense Council Climate change is already causing unprecedented heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods. Today, Hurricane Dorian is barreling down on Florida, and the Amazon, Alaska, and Siberia are on fire. And the world’s climate... Continue Reading

By By Jared Hayes and Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group For nearly 70 years, chemical companies like 3M and DuPont have known that the highly fluorinated chemicals called PFAS build up in our blood. They’ve known for almost that long that PFAS chemicals have a toxic effect... Continue Reading

By Carla Burns and Emily Ion Kosuge, Environmental Working Group CVS, one of the nation’s largest drugstore chains, recently announced it will phase out two common sunscreen ingredients, oxybenzone and octinoxate, from many of its store-brand sun-protection product... Continue Reading

By Rachel Curley, Public Citizen Earlier this month President Trump signed a bi-partisan budget deal that raises the debt ceiling and establishes a broad outline for $2.7 trillion in federal spending over the next two years. While this deal creates topline numbers for the federal... Continue Reading

By Mike Jacobs, Union of Concerned Scientists The electricity industry is watching closely for news that will raise consumer costs some $2.5 billion per year.  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is expected to change the payments for new and old power plants in 13 states.... Continue Reading

By Marc Rehmann and Sam Hananel, Center for American Progress Since entering office, the Trump administration has lost the vast majority of legal battles over its policies that harm the environment and public lands. Now, it’s trying to discourage opponents of these policies from... Continue Reading

By Larissa Liebmann, Waterkeeper Alliance The Trump administration’s weakening of public protections from coal pollution is not saving the dying coal industry and has done nothing to help struggling coal workers. However, EPA continues to push forward regulatory rollbacks that... Continue Reading

By Anita Desikan, Union of Concerned Scientists The Trump administration is routinely undermining your ability—and mine, and everyone else’s in this country—to exercise our democratic rights to provide input on the administration’s proposed actions through the public comment... Continue Reading

By Nydia Gutierrez, Erathjustice Phthalates — toxic chemicals used to keep plastics supple — disrupt our hormone systems and have been linked to reproductive, developmental and endocrine health problems, including deficits in child IQ and other learning disabilities. This class... Continue Reading

By Craig Sandler, Public Citizen Recently, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released an issue brief entitled “Association Health Plans: Everything You Need to Know.” The brief argues for expanded “association health plans” (AHPs)—junk health care plans with skimpy coverage and... Continue Reading

By Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute Soon, the Labor Department under the Trump administration will release its final rule on worker overtime. The rumor is that the administration may showcase the rule around Labor Day and claim they are taking steps to help workers.... Continue Reading

By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists In April, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler rejected the recommendations of his hand-picked science advisors on the particulate matter and ozone standard updates. Now, we again see him choose to meet a political deadline at the... Continue Reading

By Alison Kelly, Natural Resources Defense Council The Florida panther is the only remaining puma population in the eastern United States. It is estimated that fewer than 230 individual panthers remain in a single south Florida population. As NRDC previously reported, Florida... Continue Reading

By Elly Pepper, Natural Resources Defense Council As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the Trump Administration’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) finalized its drastic rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act this month. What you may not have heard is how this will affect species... Continue Reading

By David Moryc, American Rivers On June 13, the U.S. Forest Service initiated a regulation change that if successful would eliminate current public participation and reduce the role of science in the vast majority of land management decisions for the nation’s 193 million acres of... Continue Reading

By Vijay Limaye, Natural Resources Defense Council The heat is on. The summer of 2019 has been brutally hot around the world, from the United States to the Netherlands to Japan, and last month was the warmest summer recorded since reliable temperature recordkeeping began in 1880.... Continue Reading

By Francine Kershaw, Natural Resources Defense Council You can now make your voice heard on North Atlantic right whale protections. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA; also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS) recently announced a... Continue Reading

By Clare Morganelli, Natural Resources Defense Council My grandfather was a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier for over two decades. “Tony the Mailman,” as he was affectionately known along his route, delivered mail on foot throughout neighborhoods in Queens, New York all... Continue Reading

By M. Isabelle Chaudry, National Women’s Health Network On average, women use 12 products containing 168 unique ingredients every day. Men, on the other hand, use 6 products daily with 85 unique ingredients according to the Environmental Working Group. Their study shows... Continue Reading

By Melanie Benesh, Environmental Working Group President Trump toured a Shell chemical plant in Pennsylvania Tuesday, supposedly to promote his economic agenda. According to reports, he went off script quite a bit – but one thing he definitely didn’t talk about was his... Continue Reading

By Jessica A. Knoblauch, Earthjustice This week, the Trump administration finalized rules that overhaul the enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, a bedrock environmental law that is both widely popular among the public and remarkably successful in protecting imperiled... Continue Reading

By Ketura Persellin, Environmental Working Group Last week, Melissa Martin and Denise Mintz took their dogs – Abby, Harpo and Lizzy – for a swim in a pond near their home in Wilmington, N.C. Within hours, the dogs grew sick and died, apparent victims of poisoning from toxic algae... Continue Reading

By E.A. Crunden, Sierra Club In the span of a few months, entire sections of the US government have been turned upside down with around 1,000 federal employees given a stark choice: relocate or lose your job. That dilemma lies at the heart of a decision to move parts of...