The drywall debacle continues.
Inez Tenenbaum, President Obama's nominee for head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, got a number of drywall questions from senators at her nomination hearing earlier this month. They said the government response seemed too slow. Tenenbaum pledged she'd work on the problem, and was subsequently confirmed by a voice vote by the full chamber.
The CPSC has posted somewhat more extensive information on its website about identifying possibly contaminated drywall. Florida's Department of Health had previously posted their own guide, and the two document give somewhat conflicting information. Hmm.
In Louisiana, a state senator, Julie Quinn, tried to move a bill that sought to place clear liability on the "manufacturer, seller and distributor" of tainted drywall. The effort floundered earlier this month.
Also on the legal front, a number of drywall-related lawsuits from around the country will be consolidated to be heard in a court in New Orleans. The Times Picayune reports:
A panel of federal judges ruled Monday that lawsuits filed around the country against home builders, suppliers and manufacturers of Chinese drywall be moved to New Orleans, where U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon will preside over discovery and pre-trial hearings.
By transferring all of the cases to federal court in New Orleans, the judicial panel tried to ensure that lawyers for both the plaintiffs and the defense would not have to duplicate their efforts in multiple courts during discovery. The panel also wanted to prevent judges in different districts from handing down inconsistent rulings.
And lastly, there's the question of how to dispose of contaminated drywall. Florida's Department of Environmental Protection has issued interim guidelines. It should only go to certain types of landfills, and it should not go to most construction and demolition waste sites. But that's just if you're in Florida, and it could change.
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Ben Somberg | June 30, 2009
The drywall debacle continues. Inez Tenenbaum, President Obama’s nominee for head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, got a number of drywall questions from senators at her nomination hearing earlier this month. They said the government response seemed too slow. Tenenbaum pledged she’d work on the problem, and was subsequently confirmed by a voice vote […]
Ben Somberg | June 29, 2009
Waxman-Markey passed the House. Was it the right thing to do? What’s the outlook from here? Here are a few views from around the web. Dan Farber: The concerns about measuring and enforcing offsets are genuine (and increased because of Waxman-Markey’s reliance on USDA to do the job.) But those problems aren’t insurmountable either. Instead […]
Bradley Karkkainen | June 26, 2009
The House Agriculture Committee yesterday released the language of an amendment by Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN), which Rep. Waxman has agreed to accept as part of the final House climate change bill in order to secure support from Peterson and other farm-state representatives. Peterson represents a large, heavily ag-dependent district in central and […]
Victor Flatt | June 26, 2009
Wednesday, I explored the various ways that the USDA takeover of bio-sequestration offsets could affect how well the offsets provision of the Waxman-Markey Climate Security Act would work. Today, we have legislative language in the form of an amendment offered by Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), which fills in some of the details. While some of […]
Ben Somberg | June 25, 2009
What was the cost, in dollar terms, of the nine lives lost in the DC Metro crash on Monday? And how does that compare to what the cost would have been to prevent the accident, or lessen the severity of it? Should we do a cost-benefit analysis to determine the best policy? Edward Tenner's post […]
Victor Flatt | June 24, 2009
Last night, House Energy and Commerce Chair Henry Waxman announced that he had agreed with Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson that the USDA could have jurisdiction over agricultural offsets in the massive American Clean Energy and Security Act, which the House may vote on this Friday. In agreeing to what had been one of the […]
Daniel Farber | June 23, 2009
Cross-posted by permission from Legal Planet. In an opinion by Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court decided two issues in this case, over a dissent by Justice Ginsburg. The first was whether the Clean Air Act gives authority to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, or instead to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to issue […]
Victor Flatt | June 23, 2009
Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled in Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council that the United States EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers could interpret the Clean Water Act to exempt water pollution sources from pollution control requirements if the pollution was accompanied by fill material. This legal feat was accomplished because the […]
Matt Shudtz | June 22, 2009
While his colleagues (and former colleagues) jockey for the healthcare reform limelight, Rep. Frank Pallone is quietly busy making sure that, regardless of who pays for healthcare, the sick and injured will have safe and effective solutions to their problems. Last Thursday, Rep. Pallone held a hearing to assess FDA’s ability to properly oversee the […]