Blog - Page 136 of 315 - Center for Progressive Reform

Opponents of safeguards are fond of decrying what they claim is a regulatory system out of control, churning out rules at a break-neck pace. It’s not difficult to refute this claim when the president releases the twice-annual regulatory agenda, which spells out all the active rulemakings that are currently pending and the expected timetables for making progress on those rules that agencies expect to make over the next 12 months. Sure enough, time and time again the semiannual regulatory agenda demonstrate that most facets of the regulatory system are moving along at a snail’s pace, the victims of politics, under-funded agencies, and a rulemaking process that favors industry.

By comparing the expected timetables in this regulatory agenda against those from the most recent one in Spring 2015, one can see how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other agencies are falling further and further behind on completing crucial new safeguards. In some cases, the rules have been the subject of new delays over the past several regulatory agendas.

A review of the regulatory agendas for several agencies (the EPA; the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE/EE); the FDA; and the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (DOT/FMCSA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT/NHTSA), Federal Railroad Administration (DOT/FRA), and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (DOT/PHMSA)) uncovered the latest delays in rulemakings, ranging from two months to longer than a year:

Agency	Rule	Spring 2015	Fall 2015
EPA	Modernization of the Accidental Release Prevention Regulations Under Clean Air Act (2050-AG82)	Proposal 9/2015	Proposal 11/2015 2+ month delay
EPA	Standards of Performance for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills (2060-AM08)	Final rule 05/2015	Final rule 07/2016 14 month delay
EPA	Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Lead (2060-AQ44)	Final rule 04/2016	Final rule 06/2016 2 month delay
EPA	Petroleum Refinery Sector Risk and Technology Review and New Source Performance Standards (2060-AQ75)	Final rule 07/2015	Final rule 11/2015 4+ month delay
EPA	Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs); Reassessment of Use Authorizations (2070-AJ38)	Proposal 03/2016	Proposal 06/2016 3 month delay
EPA	Trichloroethylene (TCE); Rulemaking Under TSCA Section 6(a) (2070-AK03)	Proposal 01/2016	Proposal 03/2016 2 month delay
EPA	Formaldehyde Emission Standards for Composite Wood Products (2070-AJ44)	Final rule 11/2015	Final rule 05/2016 6 month delay *Statutory deadline for final rule: 01/2013
EPA	Nanoscale Materials; Chemical Substances When Manufactured, Imported, or Processed as Nanoscale Materials; Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements (2070-AJ54)	Final rule 06/2016	Final Rule 10/2016 4 month delay
DOE/EE	Energy Efficiency Standards for Manufactured Housing (1904-AC11)	Proposal 05/2015	Proposal 01/2016 8 month delay *Statutory deadline for final rule: 12/2011
DOE/EE	Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Dishwashers (1904-AD24)	Final rule 10/2015	Final rule 08/2016 10 month delay
DOE/EE	Fossil Fuel-Generated Energy Consumption Reduction for New Federal Buildings and Major Renovations of Federal Buildings (1904-AB96)	Final rule 12/2015	Final rule 03/2016 3 month delay *Statutory deadline for final rule: 12/2008
DOE/EE	Energy Conservation Standards for Fans and Blowers (1904-AC55)	Final rule 02/2016	Final rule 08/2016 6 month delay
FDA	Requirements for the Testing and Reporting of Tobacco Product Constituents, Ingredients, and Additives (0910-AG59)	Proposal 02/2016	Proposal 07/2016 5 month delay *Statutory deadline for final rule: 04/2013
FDA	Establishment Registration and Product Listing for Tobacco Products (0910-AG89)	Proposal 03/2016	Proposal 09/2016 6 month delay
FDA	Requirements for Tobacco Product Manufacturing Practice (0910-AH22)	Proposal 02/2016	Proposal 04/2016 2 month delay
FDA	Electronic Distribution of Prescribing Information for Human Prescription Drugs Including Biological Products (0910-AG18)	Final rule 03/2016	Final rule 10/2016 7 month delay
FDA	“Tobacco Products” Subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as Amended by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act aka “Deeming rule” (0910-AG38)	Final rule 06/2015	Final rule 11/2015 5+ month delay
DOT/FMCSA	Heavy Vehicle Speed Limiters (2126-AB63)	Proposal 06/2015	Proposal 11/2015 5+ month delay
DOT/FMCSA	Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service Supporting Documents (MAP-21) (RRR) (2126-AB20)	Final rule 09/2015	Final rule 11/2015 2+ month delay *Statutory deadline for final rule: 10/2013
DOT/NHTSA	Mandatory Event Data Recorder Requirements (2127-AK86)	Final rule 12/2015	Final rule 07/2016 7 month delay
DOT/FRA	Passenger Equipment Safety Standards Amendments (2130-AC46)	Proposal 09/2015	Proposal 02/2016 5 month delay
DOT/FRA	Railroad System Safety Program (2130-AC31)	Final rule 08/2015	Final rule 01/2016 5 month delay *Statutory deadline for final rule: 10/2012
DOT/PHMSA	Pipeline Safety: Gas Transmission (2137-AE72)	Proposal 08/2015	Proposal 12/2015 4 month delay
DOT/PHMSA	Pipeline Safety: Amendments to Parts 192 and 195 to Require Valve Installation and Minimum Rupture Detection Standards (2137-AF06)	Proposal 09/2015	Proposal 10/2016 13 month delay

Each of these new delays should be of great concern, since they translate into real costs to the public interest. The costs might be measured in premature deaths, lifelong debilitating injury or illness, and irreversible environmental degradation. By definition, all of the costs are preventable. Congress should also be paying close attention to these delays, particularly for those six rules above that are now several years behind their statutory deadlines. In those cases, these delays represent a failure to abide by Congress’s clear command that those safeguards be put into place by the date specified.