Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
Pandemic Endangers Slaughterhouse Workers and Supply Chains
By Valerie Baron, Natural Resources Defense Council There is widespread fear as the COVID-19 pandemic illuminates longstanding injustices that leave “essential” workers unprotected and put our public health at risk. As the virus roils the food system and threatens supply chain disruptions, the industrial food animal production system—responsible for nearly all the meat, eggs, and […]
The Trump Administration Has Weakened Crucial Worker Protections Needed to Combat the Coronavirus
By Celine McNicholas and Margaret Poydock, Economic Policy Institute Key takeaways: The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a temporary rule that will exempt 96% of applicable firms from providing paid sick and paid family and medical leave to their staff. It could also exempt 9 million health care workers and 4.4 million first responders from receiving paid leave. DOL […]
While Pandemic Unfolds, EPA Is Attempting to Sideline Science With Exclusionary New Policies
By Ken Kimmell, Union of Concerned Scientists If COVID-19 can teach us anything, it is this: having the best science, data and analysis available to and used by government decisionmakers is not only important—it can be a matter of life and death. Unfortunately, the United States EPA apparently has not learned this lesson. As I […]
The Price We Will Pay for Suppressing CDC Scientists During Pandemic
By Anita Desikan, Union of Concerned Scientists We are being forced to endure a chilling situation. The White Househas taken control over the voice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the COVID-19 pandemic and, at times, has used its own voice to actively undermine the CDC’s recommendations. A similar egregious situation happened before. In […]
Harvard Study: In Places With Dirty Air, COVID-19 Patients at Greater Risk of Death
By Alex Formuzis, Environmental Working Group Coronavirus sufferers in places with dirtier air are far more likely to die than those in areas with cleaner air, according to the first nationwide study of the connection between fossil fuel pollution and deaths from COVID-19. Disease experts with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed recent air […]
Give Government Experts Their Own Microphone
By Thomas McGarity and Wendy Wagner, Center for Progressive Reform Over the last month, the scripts of the daily White House COVID-19 briefings have followed a familiar pattern: President Trump leads off with assurances that the crisis remains “totally under control” and that miracle cures are just around the corner. Then agency experts come to […]
Reminder to Congress: The Coal Industry Trade Association Doesn’t Give a Damn About Its Workers
By Jeremy Richardson, Union of Concerned Scientists As most know by now, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act (S.3548), delivering more than $2 trillion in aid in the wake of historic and rapidly climbing unemployment. This is the one that includes a one-time $1200 payment for some Americans and some […]
Now Is the Time to Harness the Power of SNAP
By Amy Brown, Margaret Brown and Yvette Cabrera, Natural Resources Defense Council In crafting its initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress missed a huge opportunity to help the most vulnerable families and lift the economy at the same time: increasing benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, so more families can buy groceries. As this health crisis has unfolded, food has been top of with mind, with families […]
New Paper From CPR Measures Polluter Capture of Trump EPA
By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform Who does the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) work for? The answer would seem to be us, the American public, given that the statutes it is charged with implementing are focused first and foremost on protecting our health and the natural environment we all depend upon. The Trump administration, […]
Polluted Air Makes the Coronavirus Even Deadlier
By Vijay Limaye, Natural Resources Defense Council The coronavirus pandemic has caused rapid and widespread damage to human health around the world. The toll has been especially heavy on nurses, doctors and other frontline health professionals. Other populations identified as being particularly vulnerable to severe complications from COVID-19 (the disease caused by this new coronavirus) include older […]
Thousands of Industrial Facilities Likely Discharging Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ Into Air and Water
By Jared Hayes and Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group At least 2,500 industrial facilities across the nation could be discharging the toxic fluorinated compounds known as PFAS into the air and water, according to an updated EWG analysis of government data. EWG reviewed two online databases from the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as data from a […]
EPA Science Advisory Board’s Job Gets Harder—and More Important—By the Minute
By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists As the nation is thrust into the most devastating period of the COVID-19 outbreak, EPA is pushing forward several destructive policy decisions while loosening enforcement requirements for polluters—even as emerging evidence shows that air pollution is making the pandemic more deadly. In the midst of all of this, the EPA’s […]
Grocery Store Workers Need Frontline Protections
By Shayla Thompson, National Employment Law Project Grocery store workers, like healthcare workers, first responders, and transportation workers, are currently among those deemed “essential” workers during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. And, indeed, they have always been essential: they help provide the food and supplies necessary to sustain us all. But of all the frontline workers […]
New Harvard Study Links COVID Deaths and Air Pollution: An Interview with Study Author Dr. Francesca Dominici
By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists A new study was made public yesterday that sheds light on the connection between COVID-19 health impacts and air pollution. I sat down (virtually of course) with Dr. Francesca Dominici, author and Director of the Data Science Initiative at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, to learn more […]
Making Worker Protections Real During the Coronavirus Pandemic
By Karla Walter, Center for American Progress Federal lawmakers are working around the clock to ensure that the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis does not cause widespread and lasting consequences—debating policies ranging from direct relief to workers and corporate bailouts, to large-scale economic stimulus packages. In order to benefit Americans from all walks of […]
EPA Shouldn’t Use Coronavirus as an Excuse to Look the Other Way on Pollution
By David Flores, Center for Progressive Reform With all the talk of the “new normal” brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, we cannot lose sight of how government policies and heavy industry continue to force certain populations and communities into a persistent existential nightmare. Polluted air, poisoned water, the threat of chemical explosions – these […]
Cordray to ‘Oblivious’ CFPB: ‘Shield’ Families From Economic Harms
By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Rich Cordray, the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and author of a new book on his six years at its helm, today issued a powerful memo to its current director, Kathy Kraninger, urging her to stop “relaxing” duties on financial firms and to “lose no further time” in “shield[ing] […]
Trump Administration Finalizes Car Rule as Handout to Fossil Fuel Industry
By Dave Cooke, Union of Concerned Scientists Earlier this week, the administration rolled back fuel economy and emissions standards. It was such a bad idea that even their own analysis showed that it would cause $10-20 billion in net harm to the American people. So you might be asking yourself…why did they do it? Let’s […]
Public Citizen Protests EPA’s Suspension of Environmental Rules During Pandemic
By Adrian Shelley, Public Citizen Seven months after Hurricane Harvey, Texas public health experts noticed that Gov. Greg Abbott had failed to lift a suspension of environmental rules he’d enacted during the devastating 2017 storm. Thousands of Gulf Coast industrial sites were still running without rules banning excessive air and water pollution. The experts wrote Abbott and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality asking them to reinstate the rules protecting public health. Two days later, the state complied. What took so long? And what about the tons of air, water, […]
EPA Advances Broad Science Restrictions in Midst of Coronavirus Pandemic
By Michael Halpern, Union of Concerned Scientists Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pushed back the public comment deadline on a major science proposal from the middle of the coronavirus pandemic peak to…the middle of the coronavirus pandemic peak. The proposal would handcuff EPA scientists by greatly restricting the scientific information that can be used in EPA […]