According to media accounts, President Obama today nominated Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein to be the director of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs -- the so-called "regulatory czar." CPR President Rena Steinzor reacts to the news:
I welcome Cass Sunstein’s nomination to be the Obama Administration’s regulatory czar. His past support for cost-benefit analysis as a method of regulatory impact analysis – even as practiced by the Bush Administration – raises a host of questions about the direction in which he’ll lead the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The core issue: will Sunstein’s OIRA allow cost-benefit to continue to be a stumbling block for much-needed regulatory protections for health, safety and the environment? Will OIRA be a place where needed regulations get watered down and bottled up? Or, as I hope, will Professor Sunstein put his years of study of the issue and his prodigious intellect to the all-important task of repairing the tattered framework of the nation’s regulations?
What with poisoned peanuts, lead-laden paint on children’s toys, a variety of toxics in our air and water, and more, we have no shortage of evidence that we need to once again get serious about protective regulations. I hope Professor Sunstein not only shares that view but is determined to help the nation’s regulatory agencies do the job the American people expect of them.
Read more on Cass Sunstein, including CPR's Reinvigorating Protection of Health, Safety, and the Environment: The Choices Facing Cass Sunstein.
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Rena Steinzor | April 20, 2009
According to media accounts, President Obama today nominated Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein to be the director of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — the so-called "regulatory czar." CPR President Rena Steinzor reacts to the news: I welcome Cass Sunstein’s nomination to be the Obama Administration’s regulatory czar. His past support for cost-benefit […]
Shana Campbell Jones | April 20, 2009
Tomorrow, Tuesday, Frontline will air Poisoned Waters, a two-hour documentary on the continuing pollution of American waterways (9pm on many PBS stations; check your local listings). Having seen part of the program, I recommend it. Watching a bulldozer move chicken manure – much of which will end up in the Chesapeake Bay – and seeing […]
Daniel Farber | April 17, 2009
Today, EPA gave notice that it intends to regulate greenhouse gases under the federal Clean Air Act. Technically, the notice is a proposed finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. When it becomes final after EPA has had a chance to consider public comments, this finding will trigger other regulatory requirements that will move the […]
Daniel Farber | April 17, 2009
As ClimateWire reported (available via nytimes.com) the other week, government agencies are struggling with how to fit climate change into the process of environmental review (such as for licensing energy facilities or expanding offshore oil drilling). At one level, this is a no-brainer. Greenhouse gases contribute to climate change, and climate change is the biggest […]
Nina Mendelson | April 16, 2009
On Friday, the Washington Times went A1 above-the-fold with “Climate bill could trigger lawsuit landslide.” Environmentalists say the measure was narrowly crafted to give citizens the unusual standing to sue the U.S. government as a way to force action on curbing emissions. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sees a new cottage industry for lawyers. […]
Matt Shudtz | April 15, 2009
Avery DeGroh, a three-year old from Illinois, had a defibrillator implanted in her heart to deal with a congenital condition called “long QT syndrome.” It was a brand-new model with a specially designed wire (or “lead”) that is thinner and easier for doctors to install. Unfortunately, due to a problem with the new lead, one […]
Rena Steinzor | April 14, 2009
Say you live in an urban neighborhood where crime is worrisome but not overwhelming. The police are chronically understaffed, with no money to walk the beat, and instead depend on what we might call a “deterrence-based enforcement system” – making high-profile arrests, prosecuting the worst violators, and relying on the resulting publicity to frighten others […]
Yee Huang | April 13, 2009
A recent article in the Los Angeles Times described the latest absurdity in the never-ending search to quench the thirst for water: ownership of rainwater and, more precisely, the illegality of rainwater harvesting. Residents and communities in parts of Colorado are turning to this ancient practice of collecting and storing rain to fulfill their domestic […]
William Buzbee | April 10, 2009
On Tuesday, March 31, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) released a “discussion draft” of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 — a climate change bill that will serve as the starting point for long-delayed congressional action on the world’s most pressing environmental program. […]