Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
Bury the Science, Then Claim It Doesn’t Exist: Interior Department Undermines Arctic Drilling Review
By Joel Clement, Union of Concerned Scientists Laws are good to have. Take the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires the federal government to complete a science-based Environmental Impact Assessment for any project that might damage the surrounding landscape, endanger wildlife, or cause other environmental harm. This helps ensure the wise use of science […]
Enforcement of Consumer-Protection Laws Sinks Under ‘Tough-on-Crime’ Trump
By Alan Zibel, Public Citizen Law enforcement activity at three large U.S. consumer protection agencies has fallen sharply under President Donald Trump, as the White House continues to put corporate interests ahead of the middle class. A new Public Citizen report, “Consumer Carnage,” examined enforcement activity at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Consumer Product Safety […]
Trump Budget Short-Changes Water Safeguards
By Jon Devine, Natural Resources Defense Council The White House released its proposed federal government budget this week and it’s a plan only water polluters can love. If followed, it would mean more polluted drinking water supplies, make restoring the fisheries of the Chesapeake Bay and other waters harder, delay needed fixes to failing sewer […]
Bathroom Restrictions on Transgender Students Violate the U.S. Constitution and Title IX
By Lauren Hoffman and Sunu P. Chandy, National Women’s Law Center At NWLC, we’re committed to fighting back against sex discrimination in schools, workplaces, and elsewhere. That’s why we’re proud to highlight two recent amicus briefs that we filed in support of transgender students and their counsel at Lambda Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU […]
Using Tech to Inform Consumers About Dangerous Products
By Grace Sullivan, Public Citizen Recently, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released its new recall “app.” The CPSC, the nation’s chief product safety regulator, released the app in an effort to make recall information more accessible to consumers and as part of the agency’s push to modernize the recall communication process and encourage manufacturers to […]
EPA, Chemical Industry Version: Killing Workers Is Job One
By Daniel Rosenberg, Natural Resources Defense Council When he was a candidate for President, Donald Trump (in)famously said that he could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody, and he wouldn’t lose any voters. While he hasn’t taken that particular step, his Administration has not been shy about demonstrating its disregard for […]
Can the House Save Science From the Trump Purge?
By Laurie Ristino, Center for Progressive Reform The Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives has a weighty agenda – from policy reform to oversight of the Trump administration. Given all that the House Democrats have on their plate, urging them to restore policy rationality by making the support of science-based policy central to […]
How the Clean Water Act Could Become a Dirty Water Rule
By Christopher Williams, American Rivers On February 14, the Trump Administration published a proposed federal rule that would roll back protection for streams and wetlands across the United States. But we don’t have this accept this awful valentine — Write to the Administration today and let them know that you support healthy rivers and clean water.Urge […]
New Proposal Would Keep Millions of Working People From Getting Overtime
By Kelly Ross, AFL-CIO The Donald Trump administration is proposing a new overtime regulation that would protect at least 2.8 million fewer workers than the overtime regulation proposed by the Barack Obama administration in 2016. The AFL-CIO and other overtime advocates had urged the Trump administration to implement the Obama administration’s overtime rule and defend it against […]
Trump Administration to Remove Wolves From Endangered Species List
By Sierra Club Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, gray wolves have now started to recover in the continental United States after human persecution brought them to the brink of extinction. But gray wolves are still functionally extinct in the vast majority of places where they used to live. And now, unfortunately, the U.S. Fish […]
CFPB’s Kraninger Provides Opaque Statement to Committee; Questions and Second Panel Will Be Critical
By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Today, new CFPB director Kathy Kraninger testifies to Congress for the first time (since her confirmation hearing) to deliver the Semi-Annual Report To Congress of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Chairwoman Maxine Waters and the House Financial Services Committee will need to drill down with tough questions. Why? Kraninger’s written pre-filed […]
The Missing Ingredient in the Green New Deal
By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform To this point, much of the focus in the discussion over the Green New Deal has been on the substance of the vision it lays out for a better society – and why shouldn’t it be? There’s some really exciting stuff included in the Green New Deal’s toplines, which are by now well-rehearsed: […]
“Wasted Energy:” DOE’s Illegal Inaction on Energy Efficiency
By Kit Kennedy, Natural Resources Defense Council In the search for powerful climate change action that can win support from both parties in Congress, it’s hard to beat energy efficiency standards. Long-established federal efficiency baselines for appliances and equipment have saved consumers and businesses nearly $2 trillion on utility bills over the past three decades while creating […]
EPA Report Shows Vehicles Are Most Efficient Ever But Is Trying to Roll Back That Progress
By Dave Cooke, Union of Concerned Scientists Today, EPA published the latest in a series of annual reports looking at the fuel economy and emissions of passenger cars and trucks. The news is both good and completely unsurprising: vehicles are more efficient than ever before, and manufacturers continue to comply with the strong standards driving that improvement. […]
Automakers Meet Standards, Says the EPA, Making Cars More Efficient, Cleaner
By Luke Tonachel, Natural Resources Defense Council The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s annual vehicle fuel economy report shows, yet again, that clean car standards are making new cars better for consumers and the planet. In other words, the EPA’s own report shows that its plan to gut these standards makes no sense. New cars and light trucks sold […]
We Sued the Trump Administration and Won
By Sunu P. Chandy, National Women’s Law Center The more information you have about a problem, the more likely you will be able to craft a solution to fix it. That’s especially true for workplace pay inequity. It would be much easier to close discriminatory wage gaps if we had more information about pay disparities […]
Less Stress Sometimes Is a Bad Thing
By Better Markets Will altering the frequency of big bank stress tests from annual to every other year leave the big banks less prepared for a future financial crisis? That is the question addressed in comment letters filed by Better Markets with the Federal Reserve and FDIC regarding their recent proposals implementing the deregulation law referred to as “S. 2155.” For the most […]
The EPA Won’t Do Its Air-Protection Job, So We’re Putting It on Notice
By Seth Johnson, Earthjustice Sometimes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s job can be complicated. Sometimes it has to explore questions on the cutting edge of science. But sometimes its job is really simple. This is one of those times — and yet the EPA still hasn’t done what the law requires. So, we just sent […]
Drinking to Your Health? Weed Killer Roundup Lurks in Many Beers and Wines
By Kara Cook-Schultz, U.S. PIRG Having a beer or a glass of wine at happy hour or a backyard barbecue shouldn’t include gulping down a potentially hazardous pesticide. But that’s likely the case, according to a new U.S. PIRG report, The study tested 20 different beers, wines and a hard cider. Researchers found the chemical glyphosate, […]
National Labor Relations Board Turns Its Back on Contract Workers
By Laura Padin, National Employment Law Project Two recent actions by the National Labor Relations Board will make it harder for outsourced workers to organize and gain a voice at their workplace. First, on September 14, 2018, the NLRB announced its intent to engage in rulemaking to roll back the joint employer standard announced in Browning-Ferris […]