In this episode of Connect the Dots, host Rob Verchick talks with CPR Board Member Sid Shapiro and Oxford University professor Liz Fisher about the role and importance of expertise in government agencies, rulemaking, and public policy development. This topic is of particular interest as there has been a campaign in the Trump administration and by others to ignore or eliminate that expertise in a range of different ways, which hinders the ability of agencies to deliver on their legislative obligations.
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More on Our Guests:
 | Liz Fisher is Professor of Environmental Law at Corpus Christi College and the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford. She researches in the areas of environmental law and and administrative law exploring the interrelationship between law, administration and regulatory problems in different legal cultures. In particular she focuses on the role of science in that interelationship. View bio. |
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Sid Shapiro holds the Fletcher Chair in Administrative Law at the Wake Forest University School of Law and is the Associate Dean for Research and Development. He is a member of the board of directors of the Center for Progressive Reform. He has taught and written in the areas of Administrative Law, Regulatory Law and Policy, Environmental Policy, and Occupational Safety and Health Law for more than 25 years. View bio. |
Resources of Interest:
- “A Trump Insider Embeds Climate Denial in Scientific Research,” The New York Times, March 2, 2020
- “Coronavirus Is What You Get When You Ignore Science,” The New York Times, March 4, 2020
- “E.P.A. Updates Plan to Limit Science Used in Environmental Rules,” The New York Times, March 4, 2020
- Op-ed by Sid Shapiro on EPA’s misuse of science in regulation in The Hill, May 16, 2018
- CPRBlog posts on the Waters of the United States rule
- Joint comments from 20+ CPR Member Scholars on EPA and Army Corps of Engineers proposal to weaken the Waters of the United States rule, April 15, 2019
- Letter to EPA and Army Corps of Engineers on the Waters of the United States rule, co-signed by 21 CPR Member Scholars, September 25, 2017
- William Buzbee’s May 29, 2014 testimony before the House Committee on Small Business on proposed Army Corps of Engineers Waters of the United States regulations in response to the Supreme Court’s SWANCC and other decisions
- CPRBlog posts on Chevron deference
- The Fifth Circuit Court’s 1991 ruling in Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA
- CPRBlog post on how the Corrosion Proof Fittings case shaped a subsequent ruling on mercury, March 31, 2016
- All CPRBlog posts by Sid Shapiro
- Recent CPRBlog posts on regulatory policy
Special thanks to:
We’re also grateful to the musical artists featured in this episode, who make their work available to us for free through a Creative Commons license. Please check them out!
