RegsTalk: The CSS Blog

By David S. Hilzenrath, Project on Government Oversight By at least one measure, the Trump Administration’s recently finalized rollback of offshore drilling safety standards went much further than planned. The Administration’s rewrite of safety requirements will save oil and gas... Continue Reading

By Kirin Kennedy, Sierra Club Endangered Species Day is a celebratory day to bring to light the importance of the Endangered Species Act and its impact on animal conservation. The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 by the United States Congress and since that time has been... Continue Reading

By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists I’m a self-proclaimed transparency nut. But now that I’m a mom, my need for information has grown exponentially. I want a label on baby food that tells me how much added sugar is in it. I want to know whether my daughter’s car seat or... Continue Reading

By Katie Tracy, Center for Progressive Reform The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) guarantees workers the right to speak up about health and safety concerns in the workplace without reprisal. Specifically, Section 11(c) of the law provides workers the express right to... Continue Reading

By Shanna Devine, Public Citizen During Workers’ Memorial Week (April 22- 28), Public Citizen joined with organizations across the country to remember fallen workers and fight for safer workplaces, including for employees exposed to the growing dangers of climate change and... Continue Reading

By Lena Moffitt, Sierra Club In the face of recent international climate reports showing a bleak and harrowing future for our planet and more than one million species if we do not take immediate and significant action to stop climate disruption, it is appalling that the Trump... Continue Reading

By Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists On Wednesday this week, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs will hold a mark-up hearing in the Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 2019 introduced by Sen. Portman (R-OH). And before you stop... Continue Reading

By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists Ever think about reproducibility in science? Turns out you’re not alone! The National Academies of Science (NAS) just spent a year and a half studying the status quo and have released some important findings. An NAS committee released... Continue Reading

By Sandy Aylesworth, Natural Resources Defense Council U.S. consumers face difficult decisions at the seafood counter these days. We’ve now learned that some seafood is caught by forced or trafficked labor—repugnant practices no moral person would wittingly throw their money... Continue Reading

By Steve Suppan, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy How difficult can it be to trade contracts based on the cash value of wheat, crude oil, unroasted coffee beans and other raw materials? Sure, there are future risks, physical and financial, but they can be usually... Continue Reading

By Alison Cagle, Earthjustice Despite an alarming UN report that warns one million plant and animal species face extinction due to human activity, the Trump administration is poised to hasten species on their path to extinction by eroding critical wildlife protections. The UN’s... Continue Reading

By Hannah Finnie, Michelle Banker and Mara Gandal-Powers, National Women’s Law Center In June 2018, we filed a lawsuit against the University of Notre Dame and the Trump-Pence administration for illegally teaming up in order to deny Notre Dame students and staff their birth... Continue Reading

By Lauren Urbanek, Natural Resources Defense Council NRDC submitted comments this week in response to the Department of Energy’s proposed changes to its Process Rule for setting energy efficiency standards, citing several grave concerns over their divisive nature and the peril in... Continue Reading

By Anita Desikan, Union of Concerned Scientists We ignore scientists at our peril. Why doesn’t the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) get this? The New York Times (subscription required) just reported that EPA officials actively ignored the advice of its own toxicologists last... Continue Reading

By Nora Apter, Natural Resources Defense Council If you care about the future of life on Earth, the United Nation’s report on biodiversity hit you like a ton of bricks: 1 million species of plants and animals will soon face extinction—and humanity itself hangs in the balance.... Continue Reading

By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Staff from state PIRGs from Alaska to Massachusetts and points between were part of a Congressional Consumer Lobby Day featuring over 120 consumer advocates today. Our meetings with members of Congress and their staffs focused not only on protecting... Continue Reading

By Ralph Cavanagh, Natural Resources Defense Council Thirty-seven electric utilities operating in 42 states and the District of Columbia, serving a combined total of almost 55 million households and businesses, have just taken an historic stand for their customers and the public... Continue Reading

By Bill Walker, Environmental Working Group The known extent of contamination of American communities with the highly toxic fluorinated compounds known as PFAS continues to grow at an alarming rate, with no end in sight. As of March 2019, at least 610 locations in 43 states are... Continue Reading

By Amit Narang, Public Citizen As the saying goes, “elections have consequences.” Donald Trump’s election certainly has, leading  to the rolling back and gutting of hundreds of regulations that protect the health and safety of workers, consumers, children, minorities and the... Continue Reading

By Natural Resources Defense Council The Trump administration today will weaken crucial offshore drilling safety standards that were put in place after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, which killed 11 people and covered the seas with millions of barrels of oil. “The... Continue Reading

By Peter Montgomery, People For the American Way On May 2, the Trump administration finalized a new rule that will threaten millions of Americans’ access to health care by creating expansive rights for health care providers to discriminate and refuse to provide care. The new rule... Continue Reading

By Rebecca Boehm, Union of Concerned Scientists For scientists, it’s a significant accomplishment to get your work published in a peer-reviewed journal. The process of submitting a paper, fielding reviewer comments, and revising the work can take months (or years!), and final... Continue Reading

By the American Lung Association When you think of Montana, you probably think of wide-open spaces, high plains, big sky country and presumably fresh, clean air. But the American Lung Association’s 20th annual “State of the Air” report finds somethi... Continue Reading

By Shanna Devine, Public Citizen During Workers’ Memorial Week (April 22- 28), Public Citizen joined with organizations across the country to remember fallen workers and fight for safer workplaces, including for employees exposed to the growing dangers of climate change and... Continue Reading

By Derrick Z. Jackson, Union of Concerned Scientists People who can afford to live in their most-desired neighborhood often select it for the primary reasons of convenience, cleanliness, and quiet. Those features come with what environmental scientists call social, economic, and... Continue Reading

By Rachel Rabkin Peachman, Consumer Reports The deaths were alarming—and hard to miss: 19 infant fatalities,  right there in the government data, all linked to the Fisher-Price Rock ’n Play Sleeper and similar products made by the company Kids II. Consumer Reports’ safety experts... Continue Reading

By Joel Clement, Union of Concerned Scientists Trump Administration Cabinet officials have hit a number of new lows in recent months, but there is a more troubling trend that gets lost in all the scandal and incompetence. In the past, industry-friendly administrations hired... Continue Reading

By Thomas McGarity and Katie Tracy, Center for Progressive Reform Although Workers’ Memorial Day was officially April 28, the time has not passed for remembering the thousands of friends, family members, and neighbors whose lives were tragically cut short due to fatal... Continue Reading

By AFSCME Workers Memorial Day is this Sunday, April 28, when we honor workers killed or injured on the job. On this day in 1971, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was formed. For almost half a century, OSHA has been charged with helping to ensure safe and... Continue Reading

By Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists Yesterday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the White House issued new “guidance” for the Administration to “Improve Implementation of the Information Quality Act”. Unfortunately, it reads like a re-hashing of some of... Continue Reading

By Jennifer Sass, Natural Resources Defense Council Ethylene Oxide—abbreviated as EO or EtO—is one of the hazardous industrial chemicals that the Cancer Lobby is vigorously defending. The chemicals industry’s tactics include science-denial and relying on its friends in the Trump... Continue Reading

By Kathleen Rest, Union of Concerned Scientists When you wake up and roll out of bed this Sunday (April 28, 2019), count your blessings. Sure, maybe it’s just another work day for you; it certainly is for the millions of people who will be working in the stores, restaurants,... Continue Reading

By Anna Reade, Natural Resources Defense Council Yesterday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released draft interim recommendations for addressing groundwater contaminated with PFOA and PFOS, just two of a class of approximately 4,700 chemicals of health and... Continue Reading

By Sam Berger and Malkie Wall, Center for American Progress Every economy has rules of the road that help determine who benefits and who does not. Through its regulatory and lawmaking powers, the federal government has the ability to set those rules. Unfortunately, the Trump... Continue Reading

By Jon Devine, Natural Resources Defense Council Recently, the Trump administration stopped taking public comment (after an absurdly short period of time) on a proposed regulation that would dramatically weaken the Clean Water Act. The Act is the country’s principal law... Continue Reading

By Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists When the founder and CEO of AccuWeather was nominated by President Trump to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it immediately raised serious concerns from me and many others. After all, Myers is not... Continue Reading

By Daniel Rosenberg, Natural Resources Defense Council It’s getting hard to keep track of all the ways The Trump Administration’s EPA—led by coal, chemical, and oil industry lobbyists—is undermining the nation’s bedrock environmental laws and failing to protect the public as... Continue Reading

By Anita Desikan, Union of Concerned Scientists Air pollution causes serious harm to our society – from coughing, to smog in the air, to a visit to the emergency room. And the only way to mitigate the threat of air pollution is to use the best available science and technology...... Continue Reading

By Ian Fein, Natural Resources Defense Council The Supreme Court this week will hear arguments in an important case with lasting implications for both the allocation of political power in Congress and, potentially, the judiciary’s ability to check government abuses. NRDC filed a... Continue Reading

By Susan Grant, Consumer Federation of America Last year, California enacted the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CCPA), the most sweeping state privacy legislation in the country. Even though the law doesn’t go into effect until 2020, there are several bills in the California... Continue Reading

By Jacob Carter, Union of Concerned Scientists It’s Earth Day, and this year’s focus is to protect our species. That focus makes me incredibly happy because of three reasons: 1) I get to return to my roots as an ecologist and tell you about some super cool species, 2) there...