Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
Science Prevails in the Courts as Chlorpyrifos Ban Becomes Likely
By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists Today, children, farmworkers, and the rest of us won big in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, as the court ordered EPA to finalize its proposed ban of the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Ultimately, the judge determined that EPA’s 2017 decision to refuse to ban the chemical was unlawful because it failed to justify keeping […]
We Join Leading Groups in Urging SEC to Strengthen Weak Investor Best Interest Proposal
By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG We’ve joined leading consumer, civil rights, labor and older American organizations in a comment letter urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to strengthen its proposed “Regulation Best Interest” intended to ensure that all broker-dealers and other individuals and firms offering investment advice act do so in a fiduciary capacity, or in the best […]
D.C. Circuit Decision Is a Win for Customers and the Climate
By Bruce Ho, Natural Resources Defense Council The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s second-highest court, delivered a victory to customers and the climate last week when it rejected a request from fossil fuel generators to ignore the contributions of renewable energy to a reliable electricity grid. NRDC, together with the Conservation Law Foundation, had submitted […]
Gov. Scott’s Policies Are Contributing to Florida’s Toxic Algal Bloom
By Alexandra Carter and Miriam Goldstein, Center for American Progress Two hundred and eighty-seven dead sea turtles. Eighty dead manatees. A dead juvenile whale shark. Vast, uncountable numbers of dead fish and birds. Fifteen people in the emergency room. Huge economic costs. The harmful algal bloom (HAB) threatening Florida’s economy and Americans’ health this summer is the worst in a decade. Florida’s beachfront cities, real estate market, and tourism industry have all experienced loss […]
EPA TSCA Systematic Review for Chemicals Is Fatally Flawed
By Jennifer Sass, Natural Resources Defense Council The EPA Toxics Office is pushing a new approach to evaluating scientific studies that is setting off alarm bells with health scientists everywhere. It was developed in near-secrecy by the EPA office tasked with assessing chemicals under the new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the office now headed […]
At the Trump USDA, the “D” Stands for “Dow”
By Karen Stillerman, Union of Concerned Scientists Everywhere you look in the Trump administration, there’s the Dow Chemical Company. Or rather, DowDuPont, as the company has been known since a 2017 corporate merger. The influence of this multinational chemical and agribusiness conglomerate is being felt in regulatory decisions involving Dow’s products, and the administration has pulled […]
SEC Commissioner Wrong to Support Blocking Courthouse Doors to Harmed Investors
By Remington Gregg, Public Citizen In an interview with Politico, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce offered her support to allow companies the ability to prevent investors from banding together in class actions against them if they are victims of securities fraud or abuse. That would mean that investors who were cheated by […]
Regulatory ‘Burden’? A Mere $2,000 Would Have Saved This Man’s Neighborhood
By Meghana Kuppa, Earthjustice The exasperation was apparent in Jesse Marquez’s voice recently as he testified at a public hearing in Washington, D.C., about a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposal to roll back a safety rule that would make the chemical industry more accountable for public health. Marquez was 17 years old when he and his family […]
Trump Fuel Efficiency Rollback Is an Attack on Science and the Public Interest
By Don Anair, Union of Concerned Scientists Today, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation released their long-awaited revisions to federal fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards. To no one’s surprise, their preferred alternative is to essentially eliminate the standards—a predetermined outcome that the administration is now trying to defend with bogus analysis. The current […]
8 Ridiculous Things in the Trump Rollback of Clean Car Standards (And 1 Thing They Get Right)
By Dave Cooke, Union of Concerned Scientists President Trump has followed through on his promise to roll back Obama-era fuel economy and emissions standards for passenger cars and trucks, proposing to freeze standards at 2020 levels. Given the tremendous benefits of these rules to-date and the promising future for 2025 and beyond, you can imagine that justifying this rollback requires contortions […]
Clean Energy Groups Urge FERC to Reconsider PJM Order
By Miles Farmer, Natural Resources Defense Council A coalition of clean energy organizations is strongly pushing back on a recent move by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that frustrates state climate action in the Eastern United States and threatens to raise prices for consumers across the region. FERC issued an order on June 29 that could […]
Trump Cars Rollback Unjustified, Unprecedented and Dangerous
By Luke Tonachel, Natural Resources Defense Council With this unjustified and unprecedented action, the Trump administration is moving to roll back crucial protections for our air and health, all so it can take more than $170 billion out of the pockets of drivers and give it to Big Oil. With prices at the pump on the rise, […]
Legal Lemons: Why Trump’s Clean Car Rollback Faces a Recall
By Ben Longstreth, Natural Resources Defense Council The Trump administration’s assault on public health and the environment is steaming forward with a legally unsound proposal to gut fuel economy and carbon pollution standards for new cars and trucks. If the administration finalizes this rollback, we’ll take them to court and are confident we’ll prevail. As […]
Trump’s Assault on Clean Water: An Environmental Justice Issue
By Hayden Manseau, League of Conservation Voters In my environmental science class during my freshman year at Duke, I learned about the harm that pollution from hog farms was causing in eastern North Carolina, especially in low-income communities and communities of color that were situated closest to the farms. It appalled me that these farms […]
Stop Meat Companies From Rigging the Grass-Fed Market
By Ben Lilliston, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Food companies have a long history of keeping consumers in the dark about the origins of their food. But outright deception is another level of darkness. There are strong signs that global meat companies are taking advantage of a loophole to label imported beef, particularly grass-fed, as “Product of U.S.A.” That practice is hurting consumers, ranchers and our planet. The U.S. […]
How Can Consumers Find a Safe Sunscreen in the Age of Nanotechnology?
By Jaydee Hanson and Ivan Moore, Center for Food Safety In July 2018, Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, signed a law that will ban the sale of sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate starting in 2021. The landmark legislation aims to protect Hawaii’s coral reefs, many of which have already been bleached by the banned chemicals. The news […]
Leading Groups Oppose OCC Proposal to Charter Fintechs
By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Fintech is a shiny new toy that offers promise, but also poses threats to consumer protection. Yesterday, we joined leading consumer organizations to criticize a proposal by the chief national bank regulator known as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. OCC proposes that, in addition to chartering national […]
Meet the New Boss
By Michael Brune, Sierra Club The acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Wheeler, seems determined to avoid the career missteps of his predecessor. Scott Pruitt, of course, finally got the boot from when the endless revelations of his corruption, paranoia, and secrecy became unsustainable for even a Trump appointee. (Some of the most […]
Zinke’s Cultural and Scientific Failure in Delisting Grizzlies
By Bonnie Rice, Sierra Club Wyoming’s trophy hunt of grizzly bears is scheduled in less than 30 days. With little to no regret from the state and a corrupt and anti-environmental federal administration, the red-alert level is at an all-time-high. This hunt, though in only two states out west — Wyoming and Idah o– signals […]
Reliability Experts to FERC: Focus on “No Regrets” Actions
By John Moore and Gillian Giannetti, Natural Resources Defense Council The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) held its annual conference on electric system reliability this week. Unsurprisingly, the topic of resilience was featured throughout and the message from most energy experts was clear: power grids should focus on implementing “no regrets” actions—or those that will improve grid resilience […]