RegsTalk: The CSS Blog

By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists Peter Wright, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management, will face the Senate Environment and Public Works committee at his nomination hearing this Wednesday. Mr. Wright has spent the... Continue Reading

By Sophia Autor, Public Citizen Public Citizen has always worked to protect consumers’ pocketbooks, defending against proposals that put our economy at risk and ensuring that individuals are safeguarded against wrongdoing by financial institutions. For example, since President... Continue Reading

By Natural Resources Defense Council Following Lowe’s recent announcement, the paint company is eliminating two toxic chemicals from its stores. Just weeks after Lowe’s made the commitment to remove dangerous paint strippers from its shelves, Sherwin-Williams, the country’s... Continue Reading

By Dev Gowda, U.S. PIRG A recent article in the LA Times revealed that a new study found that the toxic compound triclosan, which is commonly found in toothpaste as well as other consumer products such as cosmetics, children’s toys, and yoga mats, “could cause adverse effects on... Continue Reading

By National Employment Law Project Congratulations on this award. This is a big achievement. Looking back on your career, what are some of the key moments that shaped you as an advocate? I started my career as a worker safety and health advocate at the AFL-CIO back in 1978. I...... Continue Reading

By Cyndi Roper, Natural Resources Defense Council Flint, Michigan will forever be the symbol of a government’s willingness to play fast and loose with the health of a majority non-white community. An unelected and unaccountable emergency manager tried to save a few bucks by... Continue Reading

By Josh Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists President Trump likes to brag about how many regulations his administration is removing. The President’s “2 for 1” order requires federal agencies to revoke two regulations for every new rule they want to issue. This order is aimed... Continue Reading

By Kara Cook-Schultz, U.S. PIRG More than 40 percent of Americans live in the danger zone of a facility that stores or uses hazardous chemicals—facilities we assume have comprehensive safety rules in place in case of emergency. But industrial disasters throughout U.S. history,... Continue Reading

By Charise Johnson, Union of Concerned Scientists Over the last year, we have written extensively on the actions that Scott Pruitt’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken to eliminate or weaken critical science-based protections, particularly on chemical facility... Continue Reading

By Kara Cook-Schultz, U.S. PIRG My dad and brother are do-it-yourself guys, as are my husband and father-in-law. They take on projects around the house because they enjoy the satisfaction of seeing major home improvement projects through to completion. It’s gratifying to work at... Continue Reading

By Grant Smith, Environmental Working Group Yesterday, a panel of federal regulators unanimously rejected President Trump’s order for an emergency bailout of financially failing coal and nuclear power plants. The bailout would have increase... Continue Reading

By Hannah Wiseman, Center for Progressive Reform It is widely recognized that President Trump has pushed an aggressive anti-regulatory agenda on the environmental front, but this agenda often hides a second, anti-free-market battle waged in the energy context. For decades,... Continue Reading

By Kara Cook-Schultz, U.S. PIRG School is nearly out for the summer. The season is an occasion for long days at the beach, family vacations and backyard barbecues. It’s also an opportunity for school districts across the country to replace fixtures and pipes that contain the... Continue Reading

By the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy As of June 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated that they could not determine the site-specific origins of the contamination by the E. coli (STEC) 0157 of romaine... Continue Reading

By Craig Sandler, Public Citizen After the financial industry’s crash in 2008, taxpayers footed a bill for hundreds of billions of dollars for bank bailouts. In the wake of the crash, the U.S. government failed to prosecute any of the top bankers responsible for it. And, last... Continue Reading

By Anne Weir Schechinger, Environmental Working Group An outbreak of poisonous algae has forced officials in Salem, Ore., to warn citizens that infants, children and vulnerable adults should not drink the city’s tap water. The advisory was issued May 29 and was lifted four days... Continue Reading

By Christine Hines, National Association of Consumer Advocates This week, Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and his politicos unceremoniously fired all the members of its Consumer Advisory Board as well as the Community Bank Advisory... Continue Reading

By Richard Ezike, Union of Concerned Scientists The widespread introduction of autonomous vehicles could potentially bring about many benefits – advocates argue they will reduce traffic, the burden of driving, and emissions should the cars be electrified. The could also improve... Continue Reading

By Melanie Benesh, Environmental Working Group After intense lobbying by the chemical industry, last week the Environmental Protection Agency signaled plans to delay or scrap proposed bans on some uses of the drinking water contaminant made notorious by the book and film “A Civil... Continue Reading

By Scott Slesinger, Natural Resources Defense Council There are few principles as basic to Americans as the right to participate in decisions when the federal government is going to affect the environment or economy of a community. Because this is inconvenient for developers they... Continue Reading

By Caroline Ristaino, Public Citizen Five agencies have now voted to approve proposed changes to the Volcker Rule, a part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The proposed changes would shift some supervision away from regulators and towards... Continue Reading

By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform Tuesday afternoon, three CPR Member Scholars – William Buzbee, Lisa Heinzerling, and Rena Steinzor – will be among the experts featured at a major symposium on the threats facing our system of regulatory safeguards. Th... Continue Reading

By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Monday, June 4, at midnight (ET) marks the deadline for filing public comments on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s latest inward-facing Request For Information (RFI); this one is on the future of the public Consumer Complaint Database, which... Continue Reading

By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists I spent most of Thursday and Friday this week at the EPA’s Science Advisory Board meeting in Washington, DC, as the 44 members gathered to discuss EPA’s regulatory agenda and hear updates from EPA programs on lead, per- and... Continue Reading

By Olga Naldenko, Environmental Working Group Mixtures of chemicals commonly found in consumer products are more likely to increase breast cancer risk than the same chemicals individually, according to a new analysis. But safety tests by government regulators don’t routinely... Continue Reading

By Grant Smith and Olga Naldenko, Environmental Working Group The rate of premature births to California mothers living near coal and oil power plants dropped significantly after the plants were shut down, researchers from the University of California and Johns Hopkins University... Continue Reading

By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists This Thursday and Friday, the EPA’s independent advisory body, the Science Advisory Board (SAB), will be meeting in person for the first time since Administrator Scott Pruitt announced his sweeping advisory committee directive last... Continue Reading

By Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists As the school year comes to a close, I took a look at what lessons the Trump administration has taught us about science. It’s a harsh lesson for our children and families, adding up to harms that will touch all of our lives....... Continue Reading

By Craig Sandler, Public Citizen Last week, Public Citizen, along with Free Speech For People and thousands of citizens across the nation submitted comments to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in response to the Commission’s proposed rulemaking on disclosure of online... Continue Reading

By David Rosen, Public Citizen A growing number of voices are calling for greater regulation of technology companies, increased privacy and security protections for online personal data, as well as measures to protect the integrity of our elections in the digital age. Here’s what... Continue Reading

By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists The EPA today extended the comment deadline to August 16 on its proposal to restrict the types of science that can be used in EPA decisions after pretty much everyone—from the American Home Builders Association to the American... Continue Reading

By Liz Perera, Sierra Club Q:  When is embattled climate-denying Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt willing to say that reducing carbon emissions is a good thing? A:  Only when he’s granting a favor to a powerful industry (and their... Continue Reading

By Gillian Giannetti, Natural Resources Defense Council A 3-2 majority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) unveiled a new policy last Friday that limits FERC’s analysis and disclosure of the environmental impacts of natural gas pipeline projects. The decision is a... Continue Reading

By Melanie Benesh, Environmental Working Group Today is the first day of an Environmental Protection Agency summit on perfluorinated substances, or PFAS. The group of chemicals is linked to a host of health issues, including cancer, thyroid disease, weakened immunity and other... Continue Reading

By Yogin Kothari, Union of Concerned Scientists Today, members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent a letter to EPA requesting more information about a meeting with an industry trade group, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), attended by Richard Yamada, the Deputy... Continue Reading

By Daniel Rosenberg, Natural Resources Defense Council EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has a big problem on his hands, and it isn’t that people are saying mean things to him on airplanes. The problem is that a class of toxic chemicals commonly linked (by EPA) to cancer, low birth... Continue Reading

By Jeff Sovern, St. John’s University School of Law When the Bureau fined Wells Fargo $1 billion, it did so using its power to prohibit unfair practices in 12 USC 5531(c), 5536(a)(1)(B). (see pages 9 and 12 of the consent order). House Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb... Continue Reading

By Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists If you have been following the news, I am sure you know by now that the EPA is proposing to restrict the science it will consider when developing new or revised health and safety protections. It may seem like a Washington game,... Continue Reading

By Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists As one of his first acts in office, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt decided to put on hold the implementation of new regulations to improve the safety of chemical facilities around the country. Those regulations, finalized in... Continue Reading

By Rebecca Smith, National Employment Law Project In the past two weeks, two separate court decisions have presented two pathways for states to establish labor standards and a voice at work for workers classified by their employers as “independent contractors.” First, the CA... Continue Reading

By Caroline Ristaino, Public Citizen Last week on May 9, more than 110 consumer advocates from 36 states around the nation gathered on Capitol Hill for the second annual Consumer Lobby Day coordinated by Public Citizen, Consumer Federation of America, Americans for Financial... Continue Reading

By Karen Perry Stillerman, Union of Concerned Scientists In his first year running the US Department of Agriculture, Secretary Sonny Perdue has displayed a curious tendency to say things he really shouldn’t. The most recent example is his striking off-the-cuff comment about a big... Continue Reading

By Bartlett Naylor, Public Citizen Since perverse pay incentives led to reckless, fraudulent banking that caused the 2008 financial crash, Congress approved a package of compensation reforms as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. One of... Continue Reading

By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists Citing a potential “public relations nightmare,” the Trump administration successfully stopped the publication of a study measuring the health effects of a group of hazardous chemicals found in drinking water and household... Continue Reading

By Linda Reinstein, Environmental Working Group Fifty-five nations have banned all uses of asbestos. Shockingly, the U.S. isn’t one of them. The nation’s new toxics law gives the Environmental Protection Agency the power to completely ban the notorious killer, but the chemical... Continue Reading

By Bret Thompson, Public Citizen It may seem counterintuitive to appoint an individual to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) who was spent her professional career defending corporations against consumer safety complaints. Yet, this is exactly what President Donald... Continue Reading

By Amit Narang, Public Citizen This Congress has embodied Mick Mulvaney’s frank admission to Wall Street lobbyists that “pay to play” still is the name of the game on Capitol Hill, and the Republicans’ use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) has played a big role. Republican... Continue Reading

By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists Most Americans wake up and breathe comfortably every day because we’ve enjoyed decades of strong science-based clean air policies. These policies limit the emissions from cities, cars, factories and more to keep the air clean and... Continue Reading

By Amanda Goodin, Earthjustice Time and again, we’ve seen big industrial polluters emit toxic pollution that poisons the people and ecosystems nearby. And time and again, we’ve seen these polluters walk away from the bill, leaving taxpayers to fund the cleanup and communities to... Continue Reading

By Josh Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists UCS joined a coalition of non-profit organizations in filing a lawsuit to challenge EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s attempt to roll back a regulation designed to improve vehicle gas mileage, save you money, and tackle... Continue Reading

By Marc Boom and Dan West, Natural Resources Defense Council With the transportation sector surpassing the power sector as the largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in the United States, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is working hard to protect strong federal... Continue Reading

By Susan Little, Environmental Working Group California lawmakers are moving toward ensuring that lead-free drinking water is required in all child care centers, catching up with Oregon, Washington and four other states. More than 700,000 California children are enrolled in... Continue Reading

By Clara Summers, Earthjustice This week, the House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 2, commonly known as the Farm Bill. Passed roughly every five to seven years since the 1930s, the Farm Bill funds our nation’s food security, nutrition and conservation programs. But H.R. 2... Continue Reading

By Katie Tracy, Center for Progressive Reform The White House released its Spring 2018 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions on May 9 with little fanfare. A close examination of the agenda for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) shows that... Continue Reading

By Dave Cooke, Union of Concerned Scientists Today, automakers are meeting with President Trump to discuss his administration’s plans to rollback fuel efficiency and emissions standards on light-duty vehicles. Since reports of the proposal first began to leak, we’ve seen a number... Continue Reading

By Dev Gowda, U.S. PIRG With Mother’s Day coming up on May 13, picking the perfect gift for Mom is on the minds of millions of Americans. Many of us will be giving our moms perfumes, bath bombs and beauty products as gifts this Mother’s Day. We’ll be shopping for...