Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
Contents Under Pressure: Speak Out Against EPA Proposed Chemical Facility Safety Rollbacks That Put Communities at Risk
By Charise Johnson, Union of Concerned Scientists Over the last year, we have written extensively on the actions that Scott Pruitt’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken to eliminate or weaken critical science-based protections, particularly on chemical facility safety. From the outset, Pruitt was determined to delay the implementation of updates to the Risk Management Plan (RMP) that called […]
How Home Depot Can Protect Our Families by Taking Deadly Products Off Their Shelves
By Kara Cook-Schultz, U.S. PIRG My dad and brother are do-it-yourself guys, as are my husband and father-in-law. They take on projects around the house because they enjoy the satisfaction of seeing major home improvement projects through to completion. It’s gratifying to work at something and then use and live among the fruits of our […]
U.S. Regulators Again Reject Trump Scheme to Bail Out Failing Coal and Nuclear Plants
By Grant Smith, Environmental Working Group Yesterday, a panel of federal regulators unanimously rejected President Trump’s order for an emergency bailout of financially failing coal and nuclear power plants. The bailout would have increased not only utility bills, but also premature deaths from air pollution. It was the second time this year that members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, said there is not athreat to national security that justifies forcing Americans to pay more for electricity from coal […]
Trump’s War on Progressive, Competitive Energy Markets
By Hannah Wiseman, Center for Progressive Reform It is widely recognized that President Trump has pushed an aggressive anti-regulatory agenda on the environmental front, but this agenda often hides a second, anti-free-market battle waged in the energy context. For decades, Congress and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) have worked to move the country toward […]
School’s Out for Summer, Let’s Get Lead Out Forever
By Kara Cook-Schultz, U.S. PIRG School is nearly out for the summer. The season is an occasion for long days at the beach, family vacations and backyard barbecues. It’s also an opportunity for school districts across the country to replace fixtures and pipes that contain the potent neurotoxin lead. In 2015, Americans watched in horror […]
Food Safety Foes? Digital Ledger Technology vs. Confidential Business Information
By the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy As of June 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated that they could not determine the site-specific origins of the contamination by the E. coli (STEC) 0157 of romaine lettuce that began in late 2017. Consumer Reports had advised […]
By Supporting the Bank Lobbyist Act, the U.S. Chamber Puts Wall Street Profits Before Taxpayers
By Craig Sandler, Public Citizen After the financial industry’s crash in 2008, taxpayers footed a bill for hundreds of billions of dollars for bank bailouts. In the wake of the crash, the U.S. government failed to prosecute any of the top bankers responsible for it. And, last December, the G.O.P. passed a tax cut that showered more wealth on bankers than […]
Algae Outbreak Poisons Another City’s Drinking Water
By Anne Weir Schechinger, Environmental Working Group An outbreak of poisonous algae has forced officials in Salem, Ore., to warn citizens that infants, children and vulnerable adults should not drink the city’s tap water. The advisory was issued May 29 and was lifted four days later, but on Wednesday an additional outbreak triggered a second warning. It’s yet another alarming […]
CFPB Advisory Board Firing Debacle Exposes Insincere RFI Process
By Christine Hines, National Association of Consumer Advocates This week, Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and his politicos unceremoniously fired all the members of its Consumer Advisory Board as well as the Community Bank Advisory Council and the Credit Union Advisory Council. The boards, made up of consumer experts, community […]
It’s Time to Implement Stronger Autonomous Vehicle Testing Standards
By Richard Ezike, Union of Concerned Scientists The widespread introduction of autonomous vehicles could potentially bring about many benefits – advocates argue they will reduce traffic, the burden of driving, and emissions should the cars be electrified. The could also improve access for children, the elderly or people with disabilities – but the most important benefit is improved safety. […]
At Industry’s Behest, EPA Caves on Banning ‘A Civil Action’ Carcinogen, Lays Ground to Downplay Potential Birth Defects
By Melanie Benesh, Environmental Working Group After intense lobbying by the chemical industry, last week the Environmental Protection Agency signaled plans to delay or scrap proposed bans on some uses of the drinking water contaminant made notorious by the book and film “A Civil Action.” Trichloroethylene, or TCE, is an industrial solvent the EPA says is […]
Of Course, It’s OK, We Are Only Lying About NEPA
By Scott Slesinger, Natural Resources Defense Council There are few principles as basic to Americans as the right to participate in decisions when the federal government is going to affect the environment or economy of a community. Because this is inconvenient for developers they have enlisted the Congress and the White House in trying to […]
Undoing Financial Regulations Piece by Piece
By Caroline Ristaino, Public Citizen Five agencies have now voted to approve proposed changes to the Volcker Rule, a part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The proposed changes would shift some supervision away from regulators and towards banks. In a time when Trump’s political appointees are doing their best […]
Symposium on Regulatory Safeguards Features Warren, Frosh, Three CPR Scholars
By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform Tuesday afternoon, three CPR Member Scholars – William Buzbee, Lisa Heinzerling, and Rena Steinzor – will be among the experts featured at a major symposium on the threats facing our system of regulatory safeguards. The symposium, The War on Regulation: Good for Corporations, Bad for the Public, was organized by the Coalition of Sensible […]
Public CFPB Database Comment Period Ends Monday, June 4 at Midnight
By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Monday, June 4, at midnight (ET) marks the deadline for filing public comments on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s latest inward-facing Request For Information (RFI); this one is on the future of the public Consumer Complaint Database, which has been disparaged for years by various bank industry actors and their coin-operated think tanks […]
Debriefing the EPA’s Science Advisory Board Meeting
By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists I spent most of Thursday and Friday this week at the EPA’s Science Advisory Board meeting in Washington, DC, as the 44 members gathered to discuss EPA’s regulatory agenda and hear updates from EPA programs on lead, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and the Integrated Risk Information System […]
Study: Consumer Product Safety Testing Misses Cancer Risks From Chemical Mixtures
By Olga Naldenko, Environmental Working Group Mixtures of chemicals commonly found in consumer products are more likely to increase breast cancer risk than the same chemicals individually, according to a new analysis. But safety tests by government regulators don’t routinely evaluate the combined effects of multiple chemical exposures. For a study published in the peer-reviewed […]
Study: Premature Births Drop After Coal, Oil Power Plants Shut Down
By Grant Smith and Olga Naldenko, Environmental Working Group The rate of premature births to California mothers living near coal and oil power plants dropped significantly after the plants were shut down, researchers from the University of California and Johns Hopkins University reported in a recent study. The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, […]
EPA Science Advisory Board’s First 2018 Meeting: What to Expect
By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists This Thursday and Friday, the EPA’s independent advisory body, the Science Advisory Board (SAB), will be meeting in person for the first time since Administrator Scott Pruitt announced his sweeping advisory committee directive last fall. I, for one, am thrilled that the EPA’s scientific sounding board is active and meeting […]
The ABCs of Sidelining Science by the Trump Administration
By Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists As the school year comes to a close, I took a look at what lessons the Trump administration has taught us about science. It’s a harsh lesson for our children and families, adding up to harms that will touch all of our lives. As someone who is immersed […]