Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
Andrew Wheeler: Pruitt and Industry Puppet
By Ariel Moger, Friends of the Earth Pruitt may be gone, but his legacy remains. Former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler is now acting Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and he seems determined to continue Pruitt’s corrupt agenda. It hasn’t even been a month, and Wheeler is already shaping up to be just as swampy as his […]
Wheeler’s Chance for a Course Correction at EPA
By Matt Shudtz, Center for Progressive Reform Andrew Wheeler will be on the hot seat today when he heads to Capitol Hill for his first appearance before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as Acting Administrator of the EPA. Senators initially scheduled the hearing when Scott Pruitt was Administrator and his ethical problems had […]
Appliance Standards: A Powerful Job Engine
By Lauren Urbanek, Natural Resources Defense Council Federal energy efficiency standards for appliances, electronics, and other equipment are known to save energy, cut utility bills, and reduce harmful pollution. But something that isn’t widely known is that they’ve led to hundreds of thousands of jobs, providing economic benefits to every state, red and blue alike. […]
Federal Health Study on Drinking Water Contaminants Calls Into Question Safety of Nation’s Drinking Water Supply
By Laurel Schaider, Union of Concerned Scientists On a late June evening in a high school auditorium in Exeter, NH, dozens of people stepped up to the microphone to tell EPA about contaminated drinking water in their communities. They described unexplained illnesses in their families, expressed frustration about inadequate government response, and shared their guilt and […]
A Rare Victory: EPA Reverses Course and Closes Zombie Truck Loophole (For Now)
By Jonna Hamilton, Union of Concerned Scientists Last night, we learned that we actually scored a win on glider trucks. Just before Scott Pruitt resigned from his position as EPA administrator, he gave a parting gift to the super-polluting glider truck industry. He said that the EPA wouldn’t enforce their own rule that limits production of these […]
Auto Standards Rollback: Oil Companies Win, Everyone Else Loses
By Don Anair, Union of Concerned Scientists In April, I blogged about the findings of a new analysis showing how state and federal standards to improve vehicle efficiency and accelerate vehicle electrification could impact jobs and economic growth. The results of the analysis were overwhelmingly positive. Investing in vehicle technologies to reduce spending at the pump isn’t just good […]
‘Law and Order’ Trump Is Soft on Corporate Crime and Wrongdoing
By Rick Claypool, Public Citizen In the “tough on crime” story President Donald Trump likes to tell about himself, he’s a “law and order” tough guy fighting to save “the forgotten men and women” from the scourge of “American carnage.” But even as the Trump administration ramps up “zero-tolerance” policies against street crimes and immigration, […]
“Innovation” in the Airline Industry Has Been Code for Finding New Ways to Price Gouge Consumers: We Need to Fix That
By Brian Young, National Consumers League If you have been listening to the airline industry, you may think that now is one of the best times to fly. According to its lobbyists, fares are down, and the airlines are working overtime to provide their customers with new and innovative products. However, in reality, if you have […]
Imagining a Justice Kavanaugh: For One Endangered Frog, Might Justice Scalia Have Been a Kinder, Gentler Jurist?
By Amy Sinden, Center for Progressive Reform If Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation process goes as quickly and affirmingly as his supporters hope, one of the cases he’ll hear on his first day on the bench will invite him to consider an imponderable question: Whether it’s possible to put a dollar value on an […]
Unwinding the Perverse Arithmetic of Scott Pruitt’s Small Refinery Exemptions to the RFS
By Jeremy Martin, Union of Concerned Scientists Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is gone, but the messes he created will be with us for a long time. His approach to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) took an already complicated policy and turned it upside down. Here, we untangle the opaque way Pruitt rigged the system […]
#MTSEN: Rosendale, Pence, Zenke Share Anti-Public Lands Agenda
By Alyssa Roberts, League of Conservation Voters Maybe he was aiming for a solid dozen? Already under at least 11 government investigations into alleged ethics failings, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke likely triggered one more when he announced on his official Twitter account that he’d join Vice President Mike Pence for what appears to be an event this morning with […]
Trump’s EPA Puts Our Health at Risk
By Kathleen Rest, Union of Concerned Scientists It’s common sense: the environment matters to our health. Ask parents, teachers, nurses, and community leaders, and they get it. They know that air and water pollution, contaminated land, and chemical exposures in their homes, schools, workplaces, and communities can cause serious health effects – both acute and […]
Trump’s Anti-Consumer Protection Nominee Gets a Senate Hearing; Here’s Why You Should Care
By Better Markets Today, Trump’s nominee to be the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had a contentious hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, where she refused to answer even the most basic and straightforward questions. Last November, Better Markets’ President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, talkedwith BillMoyers.com about why the CFPB is so important […]
Fracked Gas Pipelines: Good News About Bad News
By Kelly Martin, Sierra Club In late 2017, Jami Willard of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania found out that polluting corporations wanted to run a fracked gas pipeline through her family farm. Jami had heard about how dirty and dangerous these pipelines were, and how they could ruin property values and soil quality – big issues for […]
The Threat to Individual Liberty in Judge Kavanaugh’s CFPB Opinion
By Karen Sokol, Center for Progressive Reform “This is a case about executive power and individual liberty.” That is how Judge Brett Kavanaugh started the opinion he wrote for a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals holding that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was unconstitutional. That opinion is one […]
The Fate of Dodd Frank at Eight
By Bartlett Naylor, Public Citizen Eight years ago, on July 21, 2010, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This followed the financial crash of 2008 that sparked in the waning weeks of the Bush administration. The calamity cost millions of Americans their jobs, homes and savings. Banks teetered on […]
This Year’s Farm Bill Has Huge Environmental Implications
By Laurie Ristino, Center for Progressive Reform Scott Pruitt’s narcissistic reign as EPA Administrator consumed advocates’ collective energies, and rightfully so. It was a drama that recently ended – not via Trump tweet, but by old-fashioned resignation. Alas, this victory’s potential downside is that the new guy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, may be more effective […]
New EPA Administrator, Same Bad Idea—Car Standard Rollbacks Would be Awful
By Dave Cooke, Union of Concerned Scientists For months now, we’ve heard from a variety of sources that the Trump administration is readying a proposal which would roll back 2025 vehicle standards to 2020 levels, halting progress on reductions in emissions and oil use at the same time that transportation has become the largest source of […]
Kavanaugh’s Threat to Government Transparency and Accountability
By Daniel Farber, Center for Progressive Reform Presidents control crucial government agencies with authority over the environment, food and drug safety, and workplace conditions. Through various environmental, health, safety, and other laws, Congress has given these agencies broad authority to issue rules and regulations that affect the lives of every American. But current law provides […]
Clean Water, Clean Air, and Clean Government for All
By Mahealani Daniels, League of Conservation Voters Most families use bleaching wipes, antibacterial soap, and a multitude of other cleaning products in order to chase away the germs invading our homes. But last week at the “People Over Polluters Forum,” Democrats in the House of Representatives highlighted a health threat that we can’t wash away […]