Today the House is taking up debate on the “TRAIN Act”, a sweeping anti-regulatory bill that would serve to gum up the works at agencies that work to protect our health and the environment.
The bill was bad to start with; then it became a true circus, with all sorts of regulation-blocking amendments being tacked on (See NRDC, and NRDC). An amendment offered by Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) would completely rewrite the Clean Air Act, forcing the EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQSs) based partly on what is best for industry’s bottom line, rather than what is best for public health. With this change, Americans would never know whether the air they are breathing is truly healthy.
The base bill requires the EPA to conduct a new detailed study of the various economic impacts of several of its rules. The study elements range from duplicative to impossible. Duplicative, because the economic impacts of the individual rules have already been studied. Impossible, because TRAIN would also require analysis of the cumulative impact of rules on the power industry far into the future, requiring unknowable information: the cost of energy in 20 years; how regulations that haven’t even been written yet will indirectly affect jobs; and so on. The primary goal: paralysis by analysis.
Removed from the discussion, purposefully of course, is any discussion of the benefits of the rules.
The White House’s Statement of Administration Policy threatening a veto rightly noted that the bill requires “costly, unnecessary, and redundant reports.” For more on the TRAIN Act, see CPR President Rena Steinzor’s testimony on the bill from its legislative hearing in April.
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Ben Somberg | September 22, 2011
Today the House is taking up debate on the “TRAIN Act”, a sweeping anti-regulatory bill that would serve to gum up the works at agencies that work to protect our health and the environment. The bill was bad to start with; then it became a true circus, with all sorts of regulation-blocking amendments being tacked […]
Rena Steinzor | September 21, 2011
In a dispiriting reminder that the more things change, the more they remain the same, Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.) plucked a page from former Rep. Tom Delay’s playbook, denouncing federal civil servants as “the Gestapo” because when he popped into a local office unannounced and without an appointment last week, staff kept him waiting for […]
Ben Somberg | September 21, 2011
CPR Member Scholar David Driesen has an op-ed in this morning’s Syracuse Post-Standard discussing the Administration’s punt on the smog standard, arguing it’s “unfortunate that President Obama has decided to embrace the Republican narrative about regulatory burdens instead of explaining the true causes of our economic woes.” Remembering the role of financial deregulation in our […]
Robert Verchick | September 21, 2011
Let’s stipulate: EPA’s withdrawal of a stronger ozone rule was the low point. And for many, a betrayal, a sedition, the nation’s biggest sell-out since Dylan went electric (or played China, take your pick). Still, Jackson’s EPA has accomplished a great deal. Last week the EPA showcased new policy devoted to one issue with which Jackson […]
Peter T. Jenkins | September 20, 2011
Guest blogger Peter T. Jenkins is a lawyer and consultant working with the National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species (NECIS), committed to preventing further harm from invasive, non-native plants and animals. He is Executive Director of the Center for Invasive Species Prevention (CISP). If the federal government cannot regulate huge constrictor snakes that have already […]
Rena Steinzor | September 19, 2011
I regret to report that CPR is losing its outstanding executive director, Shana Jones. Shana’s tenure has produced a true CPR success story, when the organization stabilized on the funding front and its staff began steady growth. When Shana joined us, CPR staff was half its current size. In great measure because of her steady […]
David Driesen | September 14, 2011
Cross-posted from RegBlog. As Stuart Shapiro recently pointed out in a RegBlog post, President Obama himself made the decision a week ago to withdraw the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). Presidents have occasionally acted to resolve disputes between the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and […]
Ben Somberg | September 13, 2011
Senator Susan Collins announced last week the “Regulatory Time-Out Act” (S. 1538), which would put a one-year moratorium on most “economically significant” regulations. On Monday, she said she had 16 other Senators on board – all Republicans. So while I’m not under any illusion this is going anywhere, one point jumped out at me for […]
Daniel Farber | September 12, 2011
Cross-posted from Legal Planet. A current conservative refrain is the regulatory uncertainty is holding back the economy. Consider an editorial entitled “Obama’s regulatory flood is drowning economic growth”: Businesses large and small face more uncertainty today about the federal regulatory environment than at any point since the New Deal . . . . Seeing this […]