RegsTalk: The CSS Blog

By Donovan Hicks, Heidi Schultheis, Rejane Frederick, Azza Altiraifi and Rachel West, Center for American Progress President Donald Trump recently claimed that he can relate to the strain experienced by federal workers living paycheck-to-paycheck. However, his efforts to prolong... Continue Reading

By Lela Nargi, Sierra Club The US government shutdown, now in its 27th day, has left non-essential discretionary programs in nine out of its 15 departments shuttered. One of these departments. the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), oversees or otherwise funds programs related... Continue Reading

By John Breyault, National Consumers League With the partial government shutdown about to enter Day 27, there is no shortage of stories about the shutdown’s impact on everyday citizens. With the shutdown hurting millions of Americans and costing the economy billions of dollars,... Continue Reading

By Rhea Suh, Natural Resources Defense Council One month on, the longest and most senseless U.S. government shutdown in history is taking a grave and growing toll on the environment and public health. Food inspectors have been idled or are working without pay, increasing the risk... Continue Reading

By Julia Wolfe, Economic Policy Institute One of the many things we rely on the federal government for is timely, accurate, independent, and publicly available data that is used by households, businesses, and policymakers to make informed economic decisions. Of the many negative... Continue Reading

By Alyssa Roberts, League of Conservation Voters Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler wasted no time touting nonexistent “environmental progress” during his confirmation hearing to lead the EPA this morning — but the *real* environmental champions in the Senate were quick to... Continue Reading

By Marty Hayden, Earthjustice Former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler’s confirmation hearing Wednesday for the EPA’s top role offered the public a glimpse of how he’s likely to run the agency: with a mild-mannered tone that masks a climate denier agenda. Wheeler’s testimony... Continue Reading

By Ana Unruh Cohen, Natural Resources Defense Council As the longest government shut down in history drags on, and the experts protecting our air and water remain off the job, the Senate is barreling forward to put Andrew Wheeler at the wheel of the Environmental Protection... Continue Reading

By Derrick Z. Jackson, Union of Concerned Scientists Last month, the Trump EPA finally issued its intended replacement to the Obama administration’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and R.D. James, the Assistant Secretary of the... Continue Reading

By Michele Evermore, National Employment Law Project The government shutdown is hurting workers and families across the country—many of whom do not earn enough money to withstand this shutdown financially. Unemployment Insurance (UI) is an earned benefit that may provide some... Continue Reading

By James Goodiwn, Center for Progressive Reform During his tenure, former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt launched multiple assaults on environmental and public health safeguards. His attacks on clean air standards and water quality regulations... Continue Reading

By Better Markets The Trump administration nominated one of the most qualified people possibly ever to the Federal Reserve Board last September, Nellie Liang, who just withdrew her nomination.  While there’s been a number of reasons offered for this surprising action, the Wall... Continue Reading

By Christy Leppanen, Union of Concerned Scientists With a partial government shutdown now in its 3rd week, many Americans are learning the hard way about the wide range of functions their federal government normally serves. One of those little-known functions is preventing the... Continue Reading

By Craig Sandler, Public Citizen Never at a loss for spinning its corporate-friendly agenda as somehow benefiting working Americans, yesterday’s “2019 State of American Business Address” by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s CEO, Thomas J. Donohue, was a textbook example of using... Continue Reading

By John Bowman, Natural Resources Defense Council As President Donald Trump’s government shutdown reaches three weeks in length, the risks to Americans’ health and to our treasured federal lands are rising daily. Meanwhile, federal scientists are applying for unemployment... Continue Reading

By Kate Kelly, Matt Lee-Ashley, Jenny Rowland-Shea and Sally Hardin, Center for American Progress In the waning days of 2018, the U.S. Interior Department took a major step toward allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by releasing a draft environmental... Continue Reading

By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists We’ve all heard tales of museum closings and deteriorating national parks. But the government shutdown causes far more damage to public health and the environment and the science that can improve our lives. This devastating aspect... Continue Reading

By Karen Perry Stillerman, Union of Concerned Scientists The 116th Congress was sworn in last week, and not a moment too soon. The president’s babysitters have given up, his administration is spiraling out of control, and our country is desperately in need of the checks and... Continue Reading

By Kathleen Rest, Union of Concerned Scientists Late last month and just in time to welcome in a new year of rolling back public health protections, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its intention to propose a new formula for calculating the human health... Continue Reading

By John Bowman, Natural Resources Defense Council Our public servants undertake many tasks that we don’t often notice: They clear ice off the roads in national forests and ensure the local toxic Superfund site is being cleaned up; they inspect our drinking water systems and make... Continue Reading

By Ben Lilliston, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Just prior to the new year, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) threw her hat into what is expected to be a crowded 2020 presidential race. Senator Warren has been an advocate for climate act... Continue Reading

By Alex Formuzis and Bill Walker, Environmental Working Group Far more American children die working in agriculture than in any other industry, and thousands more are injured while working on farms, according to a recent little-noticed report by the investigative arm of Congress.... Continue Reading

By Emilie Karrick Surrusco, Earthjustice As 2019 begins, it’s out with the old and in with the same old, same old. Scandal-ridden Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke released a brief farewell letter today in red marker. With Zinke’s successor not yet named, David... Continue Reading

By David Doniger, Natural Resources Defense Council Exxon last month put its weight behind another climate pollution rollback proposed by the Trump administration. The oil giant backed EPA’s move to weaken the Obama-era EPA rules to cut methane leaks from the oil and gas... Continue Reading

By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform As I documented in my most recent post, 2018 was an active year for regulatory policy, bringing several notable controversies, milestones, and developments. For those who follow this area, 2019 promises to be just as lively and... Continue Reading

By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG As the year 2018 came to an end, U.S. PIRG, Americans for Financial Reform and AFR members filed the last in in a seemingly interminable series of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Requests for Information (all our previous comments in the series).... Continue Reading

By Kathleen Rest, Union of Concerned Scientists The government may be in the midst of a nonsensical shutdown, but that didn’t stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week from proposing a new formula of calculating the human health benefits of reducing mercury... Continue Reading

By Natural Resources Defense Council In its latest attack on clean air protections, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its new proposal to weaken the Obama-era Mercury & Air Toxics Standards (MATS), putting public health at risk from more than 80 dangerous... Continue Reading

By Katie Tracy, Center for Progressive Reform As 2018 ends and we take stock of the developments in workers’ rights over the first half of the Trump administration, there is little forward progress to report. This administration, acting with minimal to no congressional oversight,... Continue Reading

By Jon Devine, Natural Resources Defense Council Earlier this month, the Trump administration unveiled its long-threatened scheme to radically restrict the Clean Water Act, the country’s key safeguard against pollution of our lakes, rivers, and wetlands. If they follow through on... Continue Reading

By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform While regulatory policy developments might not lead evening news broadcasts or dominate newspaper headlines, they can have an enormous impact on our day-to-day lives. Regulatory policy has been a particular hotbed of activity during... Continue Reading

By Michelle Robinson, Union of Concerned Scientists Whether your gifts come during Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Día de Los Reyes, everyone knows it’s holiday wish-list time. The automakers know this too – you can’t turn on the tv without seeing lots of shiny new cars... Continue Reading

By David Jacobs and Amanda Reddy, National Center for Healthy Housing Just before the holidays and like the Grinch who stole Christmas, the Trump Administration’s release of its new federal lead strategy (the Federal Action Plan to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures and Associated... Continue Reading

By Michelle Banker, National Women’s Law Center Given the flurry of Trump-Pence administration efforts to roll back birth control coverage and the confusing court decisions about the ACA and the birth control benefit in the news late last week, you may be worried about the... Continue Reading

By Sarah Reinhardt, Union of Concerned Scientists As the adage goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, but less diplomatically.” “And be a little sneaky about it.” And yesterday—after work hours, in peak holiday season—that’s just what the Secretary of Agriculture... Continue Reading

By Erik D. Olson and Mae Wu, Natural Resources Defense Council Today the Trump Administration issued its long-promised and much-ballyhooed “Lead Action Plan,” which it said will “identify and reduce lead contamination while ensuring children impacted by lead exposure are getting... Continue Reading

By Free Press Another Facebook scandal?!? That’s right. The social-media giant has found its way into the spotlight once again: A New York Times investigation published Tuesday reveals that the company has given Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Yahoo and others unprecedented access to... Continue Reading

By Jen Herrick, People For the American Way Stopping the scourge of gun violence in our nation’s schools, and in all corners of society, is of paramount importance to many Americans. Indeed, after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida,... Continue Reading

By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists CNN had a scoop this past weekend: the U.S. Department of Transportation recently removed several climate change pages from its website. The changes are indicative of a greater trend within the federal government when it comes to... Continue Reading

By Gillian Gianetti, Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council today joined with other organizations in formally asking new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Bernard McNamee to recuse himself from two pending proceedings... Continue Reading

By Alexandra Carter and Miriam Goldstein, Center for American Progress The 2018 elections sent a clear message: Americans value conservation. Voters elected representatives and senators who vowed to protect public lands and waters and stand against the Trump administration’s many... Continue Reading

By Julie McNamara, Union of Concerned Scientists Are you a new political appointee looking to join your administration peers in governing by deregulatory splash? Does the idea of winning the title of Best Worst Rule-Maker of Them All make you want to jump to the front to assume... Continue Reading

By Rhea Suh, Natural Resources Defense Council It’s not often that an industry chieftain brags to investors about picking the pockets of American families with help from the White House. That’s what happened, though, after Big Oil schemed with the Trump administration last summer... Continue Reading

By Joel Clement, Union of Concerned Scientists It is tempting to get excited about the departure of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke; his tenure was marked by scandal after scandal and he demonstrated the will and gall to dutifully gut the agency he was charged with leading in order... Continue Reading

By Karen Perry Stillerman, Union of Concerned Scientists Last week, the Trump administration finalized a rule that will weaken nutrition standards governing what kids are served in the school lunch line. This rollback had been in works for more than a year—Secretary of... Continue Reading

By Abigail Dillen, Earthjustice Several years ago, researchers studying environmental causes of childhood autism found a link to chlorpyrifos, a pesticide widely used across the U.S. on staple crops like corn, wheat, and citrus. That study and others that followed led the EPA to... Continue Reading

By Jonathan Smith, Earthjustice This holiday season, the Environmental Protection Agency intends to grant the wish of massive polluters to continue to release toxic emissions without reporting them. Defying recent directives from Congress and the second-highest court in the... Continue Reading

By Sarah Reinhardt, Union of Concerned Scientists The Trump administration is now laying the foundation for the next quinquennial (five-year) makeover of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the public health community is taking notice. These guidelines are the cornerstone... Continue Reading

By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform Not long after their party regained control of the lower chamber in the midterm elections, House Democratic leaders unveiled their signature legislative action for the next Congress – a package of reform measures aimed at tackling... Continue Reading

By Jessica A. Knoblauch, Earthjustice Ever wonder what “artificial flavor” means when you look at the list of ingredients on a packaged food? In some cases, it means chemicals that are known to cause cancer in animals and could cause cancer in humans. For years, the Food and Drug... Continue Reading

By Natural Resources Defense Council The EPA’s new definition of the Obama-era safeguard would allow polluters to dirty our critically important streams, tributaries, and wetlands—and threaten the water supply of millions of Americans. The Trump administration released its new... Continue Reading

By Tori Slatton, People For the American Way In November, Secretary of Education Betsey DeVos released a highly controversial proposal that would effectively strip student survivors of sexual assault of their basic rights by fundamentally altering Title IX, which was enacted to... Continue Reading

By Shannon Baker-Branstetter, Consumer Reports The analysis underlying the Trump Administration’s plan for rolling back fuel efficiency and greenhouse standards in vehicles is based on “fundamental flaws and inconsistencies, is at odds with basic economic theory and empirical... Continue Reading

By Natural Resources Defense Council Leading conservation groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service for its issuance of five new seismic blasting permits in an area twice the size of California, arguing that they violate the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered... Continue Reading

By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists More than 200 air quality and public health experts have penned a letter expressing concern about the limited scientific input into an air pollutant standard update. The 206 scientists are deeply troubled by recent actions of the... Continue Reading

By Amy K. Matsui, National Women’s Law Center Today is the last day for public comments regarding the Trump administration’s punitive and discriminatory “public charge” rule.  This proposed rule would take the radical and unprecedented step of counting any of the following... Continue Reading

By Jessica Knoblauch, Earthjustice It was a typical summer day in 2015 when Walter Echo-Hawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, discovered fracking operations near his home on Pawnee lands about 55 miles west of Tulsa. After stumbling upon a work crew surveying for a... Continue Reading

By Annie Notthoff and Jon Colmenares, Natural Resources Defense Council The new legislative session opened Monday with California State Senate pro Tem Toni Atkins continuing strong environmental leadership by introducing SB 1 – the California Environmental, Public Health,... Continue Reading

By Natural Resources Defense Council As major climate change reports recently warned of the extreme dangers of rising carbon emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to roll back a 2015 federal clean air rule that requires new coal plants to install... Continue Reading

By Lissa Lynch, Natural Resources Defense Council Lately just about every other week there’s both a new scientific report warning about the urgent dangers of climate change and a new proposal from the Trump administration rolling back climate protections. Today, Trump’s Acting... Continue Reading

By Joel Scata, Natural Resources Defense Council President Trump killed the federal flood protection standard, a policy put in place to ensure federally funded infrastructure—the hospitals, schools, and roads paid for by you and me through our tax dollars—was constructed with a... Continue Reading

By Ben Lilliston, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy In August 2016, the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency quietly announced a major change regarding its loan program for medium-sized Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The agency would no longer... Continue Reading

By the Natural Resources Defense Council U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke moved forward today with a sweeping rollback of a conservation plan meant to protect the imperiled greater sage grouse as well as critical wildlife habitat that supports hundreds of... Continue Reading

By Elly Pepper, Natural Resources Defense Council Today NRDC and our partners filed suit against the Trump administration for failing to meaningfully respond to our petition asking them to list giraffes as an endangered species. In April 2017, we joined the Center for Biological... Continue Reading

By Rob Cowin, Union of Concerned Scientists There’s a little known independent federal agency whose decisions could have big impacts on states like Kansas and Iowa.  It’s called the Federal Electricity Regulatory Commission (FERC).  FERC makes decisions that affect electric power... Continue Reading

By Vijay Limaye, Natural Resources Defense Council New research shows that, within the next seven years, nearly 2,000 Americans could die annually from oil and gas sector-triggered air pollution if dangerous methane emissions are not controlled. Such a future is, unfortunately, a... Continue Reading

By Jessica Knoblauch, Earthjustice The low, guttural bellows and high-pitched calls of the North Atlantic right whale may soon be drowned out—or altogether silenced—by the continuous blasts of seismic airguns used to identify dirty energy deposits deep within the Atlantic Ocean... Continue Reading

By Rhea Suh, Natural Resources Defense Council The U.S. Department of the Interior touches the lives of every American, in ways large and small, every day. Its leader is the steward of our public lands and waters, guardian of our natural heritage, and keeper of our national... Continue Reading

By Luke Tonachel, Natural Resources Defense Council To avert dangerous climate change, we must act quickly and boldly. When it comes to transportation, now the biggest source of carbon pollution in the U.S., there are lots of options but two basic things must be: making... Continue Reading

By Maggie Caldwell, Earthjustice This week, a famous Yellowstone wolf nicknamed “Spitfire” was shot dead by a trophy hunter outside the park. Though the shooting was legal in Wyoming, the fate of Spitfire (who’s also known as “926”) is a warning of what could happen to wolves in... Continue Reading

By Matt Kent, Public Citizen In mid-October, the Trump administration released its annual report detailing deregulatory actions taken under the ill-conceived 2-for-1 executive order, which requires agencies to eliminate two regulations for any single new regulatory action. Office... Continue Reading

By Sam Gomberg, Union of Concerned Scientists The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted Tuesday to approve the appointment of Bernard McNamee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The final confirmation vote now moves to the full Senate. McNamee’s... Continue Reading

By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists On Thursday, November 29, the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) will meet(via phone) for the first time since the recent upheaval in its membership. The agenda? To discuss the Integrated Review Plan for... Continue Reading

By Erik D. Olson and Lena Brook, Natural Resources Defense Council We live in partisan times, as anyone who had to sit through Thanksgiving dinner with distant relatives can probably attest. But even your crazy uncle would agree that the safety of our food shouldn’t be a partisan... Continue Reading

By  Estelle Mitchell and Marium Durrani, National Women’s Law Center Last month, the Trump administration published a proposed rule that would expand the current “public charge” test used when people apply to enter the country or for lawful permanent resident (green card)... Continue Reading

By Barry Zigas, Consumer Federation of America The Community Reinvestment Act has served since 1977 as a critical part of a broad national policy to promote the participation of private capital in serving America’s communities and consumers.  The Act was prompted in large part by... Continue Reading

By Steve Suppan, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy With Thanksgiving and Christmas comes the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s reminder to cook turkey to 165 degrees to kill salmonella, a harmful bacteria, as in “Why a Salmonella Outbreak Shouldn’t Ruin Yo... Continue Reading

By Ellen Simon, Waterkeeper Alliance The heavy rains and high waters after Hurricane Florence flooded 35 industrial poultry operations in North Carolina housing an estimated 1.8 million birds, according to a new investigation by Waterkeeper Alliance and the Environmental Working... Continue Reading

By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists Behind the headlines of the Trump administration’s attacks on science is a quiet army of government scientists continuing to do their jobs protecting the nation’s public health, safety, and the environment. This week, we have the... Continue Reading

By Christina Theodoridi, Natural Resources Defense Council Phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) will cost consumers little and, in some cases, will save them money on energy bills. That’s the conclusion of a new report by the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, a... Continue Reading

By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Today, 7 member groups of the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) asked each of their national Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) to investigate Google Android’s pervasive smartphone locational data collection practices followin... Continue Reading

By Sabrina Joy Stevens, National Women’s Law Center As you’ve almost certainly heard by now, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently released draft Title IX rules about sexual harassment (which includes assault) that are nothing short of appalling. IF implemented in their... Continue Reading

By Elizabeth Tang, National Women’s Law Center Betsy DeVos is at it again. On August 29, 2018, the New York Times published a leaked draftof the Department of Education’s proposed Title IX regulations on sexual harassment and violence. Remarkably, DeVos’s draft regulations... Continue Reading

By Emilie Karrick Surrusco, Earthjustice For many people in America, Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for the blessings of life — and to stuff ourselves silly with plate after plate of comfort food. This Thanksgiving, as the luckiest among us sit down to a bountiful feast,... Continue Reading

By Kenneth Quinnell, AFL-CIO Workplace violence is a serious and growing problem for health care and social service workers. Nurses, emergency room doctors, social workers, psychiatric facility aides, and other health care and social service workers frequently face violence that... Continue Reading

By the Natural Resources Defense Council The House of Representatives took yet another swipe at the Endangered Species Act(ESA) on Friday when it voted to strip the gray wolf of protections across the continental United States—and prohibit lawsuits challenging those delisting... Continue Reading

By the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Understanding the regulatory practices and cooperation provisions of New NAFTA and what they could mean for food safety, worker and environmental protections in Canada and the United States. Several chapters in the USMCA (United... Continue Reading

By the National Women’s Health Network At the National Women’s Health Network, we are deeply concerned about the state of science under the Trump-Pence administration. Respect for science and scientists at federal agencies has dangerously eroded over the last 21 months. By... Continue Reading

By Dawn Undurraga and Sydney Swanson, Environmental Working Group With Thanksgiving less than a week away, news of a salmonella outbreak in turkey is a serious concern. The turkeys in question are contaminated with a hard-to-treat strain of salmonella bacteria that can trigger... Continue Reading

By Anna Reade, Natural Resources Defense Council The EPA has released draft toxicity assessments for GenX chemicals and PFBS, both members of a larger group of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). GenX and PFBS are being used as replacement chemicals for... Continue Reading

By Melanie Benesh, Environmental Working Group Today, 51 environmental and public health groups, including EWG, called on Amazon and eBay to remove illegal skin care products containing dangerous levels of mercury. The products, purchased and tested by the Mercury Policy Project,... Continue Reading

By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists The midterms brought checks and balances to Washington, complete with new opportunities for accountability and oversight, and some members of Congress have already signaled that science will be on the agenda. Today, a diverse set... Continue Reading

By Sabrina Joy Stevens, National Women’s Law Center Nearly two years into the Trump era, it’s no secret that members of the Trump administration use a variety of tactics to try to suppress unfavorable news coverage and activism in opposition to their seemingly endless... Continue Reading

By Karen Perry Stillerman, Union of Concerned Scientists Back in early August (or roughly two Trump years ago), I wrote about the president’s nomination of Scott Hutchins to head up science at the US Department of Agriculture. In that post, I argued that Hutchins, an entomologist... Continue Reading

By Scott Sleginger, Natural Resources Defense Council The Senate passed the Coast Guard authorization bill that included a title amending the law dealing with ballast water regulations. House passage is expected quickly. The shipping industry has tried for many years to gut... Continue Reading

By Derrick Jackson, Union of Concerned Scientists In its latest scheme to undermine science, the Trump administration is brazenly trying to—pun intended—farm out to the hinterlands the most important research arms of the Department of Agriculture. When Secretary Sonny Perdue... Continue Reading

By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Next year, a highly-anticipated privacy and data protection rights battle will occur in Congress. Powerful special interests from Google to Facebook are responding to the new European General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) by hiring a massive phalanx... Continue Reading

By Dave Cooke, Union of Concerned Scientists Since word first leaked that the Administration was planning to freeze fuel economy and global warming emissions standards for passenger cars and trucks, automakers and their trade associations have been adamant about “not wanting a... Continue Reading

By Angela Benander, Sierra Club Secretary Ryan Zinke’s Department of the Interior continues to shut out the public in a reckless rush to sell off America’s public lands to the highest bidder. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently hosted a handful of meetings for the public... Continue Reading

By Elliott Negin, Union of Concerned Scientists The steady parade of unqualified, ideologically driven appointees for key Trump administration positions has resumed now that things in Washington have settled down after the mid-term elections. Last week, Trump tapped Matthew G.... Continue Reading