Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
How Can Legal and Regulatory Enforcement Help Communities at Risk from the Climate Crisis?
By Matt Schudtz, Center for Progressive Reform From the farm fields of California to the low-lying neighborhoods along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, structural racism and legally sanctioned inequities are combining with the effects of the climate crisis to put people in danger. The danger is manifest in heat stroke suffered by migrant farmworkers […]
The EPA’s Rule to Restrict Science Could Compromise Your Confidential Research Data
By Anita Desikan, Union of Concerned Scientists It is a nice story that the tobacco industry came up with in the 1990’s – in order to be transparent, scientific studies informing policies affecting the tobacco industry should be “sound.” And tobacco companies could better determine this “soundness” if they were allowed to reanalyze the underlying data […]
EPA Doubles Down on Its Attempt to Censor Science
By Vijay Limaye, Natural Resources Defense Council The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2018 censoring science proposal aimed to undercut the agency’s application of landmark public health science by severely restricting its use in decision making. The proposal was a dangerous disaster that lacked any sound legal basis and threatened to impose draconian and hugely costly restrictions on the types […]
EPA Moves to Handcuff Its Scientists
By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday announced plans to restrict how science can inform decisions on air pollution, chemical safety, vehicle emissions, and more. EPA political leaders want the option to force agency scientific experts to ignore some of the best evidence we have about how pollution makes people sick. Soon, […]
Most Fuel-Efficient Cars: a Win for Consumers’ Pockets, the Economy, and Climate, but What’s Next?
By Dave Cooke, Union of Concerned Scientists Every year, the EPA puts out a report on compliance with the current vehicle efficiency standards, and the technology trends helping to improve the fuel economy of new vehicles sold. That report shows that fuel economy is at its highest levels ever—and according to our analysis, the regulations driving improvements […]
Activists Rally at the Supreme Court to Protect the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau
By Charlie Everett, People For the American Way On March 3, People For the American Way staff and members joined coalition partners and activists for a rally at the Supreme Court to urge the Court to protect millions of American consumers from the financial industry and big banks. The event, which was held during the Supreme […]
The Trump EPA Is Restricting EPA Science. It’s Somehow Worse Than We Expected.
By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists Yesterday the Trump administration issued a supplemental notice to a draft rule long feared by many in the public health and scientific communities as a major disruption to science-based policy as we know it. Purported to be about transparency at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the proposal—in reality—would prevent […]
Senators Must Stop Nancy Beck’s Playbook for Undermining Science
By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists President Trump has nominated Dr. Nancy Beck for the role of chair and commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an agency charged with “protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death” related to the use of consumer products on the market. The American Chemistry Council representative turned EPA […]
10 Years After Deepwater Horizon, Oil Spills and Accidents Are on the Rise
By Matt Lee-Ashley, Center for American Progress On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon killed 11 men and injured 17 other crew members. Over the next 87 days, an estimated 210 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, poisoning fish and wildlife, forcing the closure of beaches and […]
Science, Denied, Again. Interior Department Adds Inaccurate Climate Change Info to Reports
By Maria Caffrey, Union of Concerned Scientists The New York Times reported this week that a senior employee at the Department of the Interior (DOI) is pressuring scientists to include inaccurate information about climate change in agency reports. So far at least nine different reports have been affected in what may be violations of the department’s scientific […]
Trump Administration Ignores Worker Safety in Pursuit of Offshore Oil Profits
By Jacob Carter, Union of Concerned Scientists Recent reports show that political appointees at the Department of the Interior (DOI) ignored experts who opposed issuing a rule rolling back safety measures for offshore oil rig workers. This is not the first time, however, that experts have been ignored or information has been manipulated to ensure that […]
After Three Years of Trump, the Kids Are Not Alright
By Ketura Persellin, Environmental Working Group Three years into President Trump’s administration, the Union of Concerned Scientists, or UCS, has taken an in-depth look at the impact on children’s health. The findings are bleak. “The federal government has traditionally worked hard to ensure that future generations enjoy an ever-improving quality of life,” the report says. “In […]
The Trump Administration Has Hindered Our Ability to Effectively Respond to the Coronavirus Epidemic
By Anitka Desikan, Union of Concerned Scientists “At the start of every disaster movie, there is a scientist being ignored.” – 2017 March for Science protest sign The novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, may be the most intense international public health crisis seen in the last few years. In the coming days, as COVID-19 inches towards becoming […]
Communities of Color Bear the Brunt of Trump’s Anti-Environmental Agenda
By Amy Patronella and Saharra Griffin, Center for American Progress President Donald Trump has claimed that from his first day in office, his administration “has made it a top priority to ensure that America has among the very cleanest air and cleanest water on the planet.” In reality, it has done the exact opposite—deliberately dismantling the United States’ existing […]
Will the Supreme Court Create a Pathway to Autocracy in Consumer Protection Agency Case?
By David Driesen, Center for Progressive Reform On March 3, the Supreme Court will hear a plea to invent a new rule of constitutional law with the potential to put an end to the republic the Constitution established, if not under President Trump, then under some despotic successor. This rule would end statutory protections for […]
The Endangered Species Act Is Under Attack
By Earthjustice Recognizing that extinction is irreversible, the United States did in 1973 what no country had done before, establishing a commitment to protect and restore the species that are most at risk of extinction. The Endangered Species Act is one of the most popular and effective environmental laws ever enacted. In the four decades since the Endangered Species Act became […]
Sabotaged Science in the Arctic Refuge: Interior Department Works to Undermine Its Own Scientists
By Joel Clement, Union of Concerned Scientists It’s been a long, tough road for scientists during the Trump administration—particularly those at the sprawling Department of the Interior. Interior scientists have been reassigned and marginalized by political appointees, their results have been suppressed, their funding has been choked off, and their programs have been threatened with closure or relocation. Those who remain on the […]
There’s Nothing “Mini” About the U.S. Plan to Unravel Europe’s Precautionary Principle
By Sharon Anglin Treat, Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy The real goal of the United States and European Union’s so-called “mini-deal” on trade is unambiguous and goes to the heart of Europe’s way of life and approach to the rule of law. U.S. trade negotiators, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and American farm interests have […]
Proposed NEPA Rule Changes
By Sharon Buccino, Natural Resources Defense Council What They Do and Ways to Respond Background In passing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) over 50 years ago, Congress made it the “continuing responsibility of the Federal government to . . . fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environment for succeeding generations.” […]
Sierra Club, Earthjustice and Frontline Communities Sue DOD Over PFAS Chemicals
By Sonya Lunder, Sierra Club Last week, the Sierra Club joined a lawsuit with Save Our County, Community In Power and Development, and United Congregations of Metro East, represented by Earthjustice, to halt the reckless incineration of toxic PFAS-based fire fighting foams under contracts with the U.S. military. PFAS chemicals are commonly referred to as “forever […]