On Tuesday, CPR Member Scholar Catherine O'Neill testified about mercury pollution from chlor-alkali plants at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection.
At least one in ten women of childbearing age in the United States has blood levels of mercury that threaten the neurological health of her newborn babies. Chlor-alkali plants are a major source of mercury pollution (which we are exposed to primarily through eating fish), even though only four of the plants in the United States still use a mercury-emitting technology. It's completely unnecessary, O'Neill argued, because the industry developed an alternative technology decades ago that does not use any mercury. Approximately 95 percent of chlor-alkali is produced using those newer processes, "diaphragm cell" and "membrane cell."
Said O'Neill: "For years now, we’ve tried waiting this problem out, allowing the chlor-alkali plants to switch over to mercury-free production methods on their own. It’s time to stop waiting, and start requiring them to clean up their act, so as to reduce this serious and entirely unnecessary risk."
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Ben Somberg | May 15, 2009
On Tuesday, CPR Member Scholar Catherine O’Neill testified about mercury pollution from chlor-alkali plants at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. At least one in ten women of childbearing age in the United States has blood levels of mercury that threaten the neurological health of […]
Ben Somberg | May 14, 2009
CPR President Rena Steinzor and Policy Analyst Matt Shudtz submitted formal comments this week to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) with policy recommendations for separating science from politics. Back on March 9, President Obama issued a memorandum on scientific integrity, which outlined broad principles on the subject and requested that […]
Shana Campbell Jones | May 13, 2009
Yesterday, as the Executive Council for the Chesapeake Bay Program held its annual meeting, President Obama issued an Executive Order on Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration (a first), declaring the Chesapeake Bay a national treasure and signaling that EPA will play a strong role in leading Bay cleanup. For years, federal leadership on the Bay […]
Rena Steinzor | May 13, 2009
Cass Sunstein had his confirmation hearing Tuesday; it was well-attended and anti-climactic. President Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) testified for about an hour, and Senate approval of the nomination seems assured. Ironically, in a perfect example of timing being everything, at about […]
Rena Steinzor | May 13, 2009
With his attractive family and a phalanx of top aides in tow, Professor Cass Sunstein had a cordial, 45-minute hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee yesterday. He was introduced by former student and current Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) who praised Sunstein as a teacher, mentor, and eclectic thinker, all qualities for […]
Ben Somberg | May 12, 2009
With Cass Sunstein’s confirmation hearing for “regulatory czar” set for today, CPR Member Scholars Catherine O’Neill and Amy Sinden have an op-ed on the subject in this morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer — “The cost-benefit dodge.” They write: Beginning in the Reagan administration, any regulation with a significant impact has had to pass through Information and Regulatory […]
Shana Campbell Jones | May 11, 2009
Cattle, chickens, and hogs create more than 500 million tons of manure in the United States annually – three times more than the sanitary waste produced by people. Yet, in contrast to a concerted federal and state effort to fund and build sewage treatment plants since the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972, dealing […]
Holly Doremus | May 7, 2009
This item is cross-posted by permission from Legal Planet. The National Environmental Policy Act, which became law on January 1, 1970, is the oldest of the major federal environmental laws. It has been a model for environmental assessment laws in numerous states and other nations, but it still comes in for a lot of criticism […]
Rena Steinzor | May 6, 2009
Cass Sunstein, President Obama's controversial nominee for Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), will go before the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for his confirmation hearing on Tuesday (May 12). The “Regulatory Czar,” as this position is known, wields enormous influence over the substance of federal regulations affecting matters […]