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Showing 130 results

Matt Shudtz

Executive Director

Matt Shudtz | May 17, 2010

Potentially Regulated Parties, White House Trying to Inject the Data Quality Act and Other Distractions Into EPA’s IRIS Assessment Process

In the year since EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a new process (pdf) for updating chemical risk assessments in EPA’s IRIS database, agency scientists have succeeded in getting some stalled assessments moving through the system. Since the May 21, 2009 announcement, EPA staff have competed nine new and updated assessments. Two others are in the final stages […]

Matt Shudtz | May 6, 2010

The Grand Tradition of Harassing Researchers — Virginia Edition

Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli II has taken his climate change vendetta to a new low, announcing that he will use Virginia’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act to force officials at UVA to spend months digging through a decade of university records in search of evidence that Dr. Michael Mann “defrauded” the Commonwealth by seeking funds to […]

Matt Shudtz | March 9, 2010

EPA’s Coming Announcement on BPA

In response to a question at a National Press Club appearance on Monday, Lisa Jackson said that the EPA would be finalizing an action plan on BPA in the “very near future.” As I noted here in January, the EPA had announced in September that it would be releasing action plans on a number of […]

Matt Shudtz | March 4, 2010

Stakeholders Speak, and OSHA Listens

Today the top brass from OSHA opened their doors to the many stakeholders who have something to say about how the agency is doing in its efforts to protect U.S. workers. Of course, they got an earful. The event marks a new path for OSHA, in that the head of the agency and top career […]

Matt Shudtz | February 25, 2010

Eye on OIRA: Meddling with IRIS Again, Now on Arsenic

Add arsenic to the list of carcinogenic chemicals that will see delayed regulation from EPA as a result of OMB’s meddling. Last week, after almost seven years’ work, EPA released a draft assessment of the bladder and lung cancer risks posed by arsenic in drinking water. But the release of the final arsenic risk assessment […]

Matt Shudtz | January 22, 2010

Next Up on BPA: EPA’s Chemical Action Plan?

FDA scientists have had a chance to develop an assessment of the risks of BPA in food contact applications using a fuller body of low-dose studies and concluded last week that there’s some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children (for a helpful […]

Matt Shudtz | December 30, 2009

EPA Proposes New Lead Monitoring Requirements

EPA today took an important step toward reversing one of the Bush Administration’s “midnight regulations,” announcing a proposed rule that would improve monitoring standards for airborne lead. Under EPA’s new proposal, any establishment that emits lead into the air at a rate of a half a ton per year or more could be required to […]

Matt Shudtz | December 30, 2009

Regulatory Highs and Lows of 2009: OSHA and Toxics

CPRBlog asked some of our regular bloggers to give us some suggestions for the high and low points of the regulatory year. We began by taking the Bush Administration’s “midnight regulations” off the table, so that we could focus in on the Obama Administration’s impact to date. CPR Policy Analyst Matt Shudtz offers up a number of […]

Matt Shudtz | December 12, 2009

NLRB gets an earful on its ‘joint employer’ definition

A coalition of occupational health and safety experts submitted an amicus brief to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last Thursday, urging the Board to reconsider its restrictive definition of “joint employer” for purposes of collective bargaining.  It’s a critical issue for workers as more and more are getting jobs through temp firms, staffing agencies, […]