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Amy Sinden | July 29, 2011

White House Flouts Agency Heads, Rolls Out Backroom Deal on Fuel Economy Standard

This post was written by Member Scholar Amy Sinden and Policy Analyst Lena Pons. This morning President Obama will make an announcement about upcoming fuel economy and greenhouse gas emission standards for passenger cars and light trucks for model years 2017-2025. The announcement will reference the Administration’s plan to propose a standard to reach 54.5 miles […]

Aimee Simpson | July 26, 2011

Holding its Legal (and Parental) Ground: EPA Responds to the American Chemistry Council’s Request for Correction of the BPA Action Plan

Being a parent is not easy, but some of the most difficult moments arise when you know what needs to be done to protect your child and your child has other sentiments. Call it a temper tantrum, a battle of wills, or disobedience, it all evokes a sense of frustration, exhaustion, and, let’s face it, self-doubt. There […]

Holly Doremus | July 21, 2011

EPA Finalizes Mountaintop Removal Guidance

Cross-posted from Legal Planet. After a three-and-a-half month delay for White House review, EPA has finalized its guidance for review of mountaintop removal mining permits in Appalachia. I needn’t have worried that the White House would roll EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on this one. The final guidance maintains the strong stand EPA took last April […]

Frank Ackerman | July 21, 2011

Facing up to the Real Cost of Carbon

This item, cross-posted from Triple Crisis, was written by CPR Member Scholar Frank Ackerman and fellow Stockholm Environment Institute-U.S. Center economist Elizabeth A. Stanton. Your house might not burn down next year. So you could probably save money by cancelling your fire insurance. That’s a “bargain” that few homeowners would accept. But it’s the same […]

Rena Steinzor | July 20, 2011

When Politics Trump Science: How the Ozone Standard’s Three-Year Delay Has Already Led to Thousands of Avoidable Deaths

This post was written by CPR President Rena Steinzor and Policy Analyst James Goodwin. Few incidents better illustrate the Bush Administration’s outright hostility to politically inconvenient science than its 2008 rule updating the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). In the run-up to that rule, Bush’s EPA ignored the unanimous recommendation of the Clean Air […]

Carl Cranor | July 19, 2011

How to Diss A Book Without Reading It

When you write a book, particularly one that has something to do with matters political, you have to expect criticism. So when I wrote Legally Poisoned: How the Law Puts Us at Risk from Toxicants (Harvard, 2011), I fully expected it to take a shot or two – not just from some of my colleagues […]

Daniel Rosenberg | July 14, 2011

Through the Looking Glass: Chemical Industry to Star in the Role of Weeping Walrus at House Hearing on EPA’s Assessment of Toxic Chemicals

Editor’s Note: This morning, CPR President Rena Steinzor will testify at a House hearing regarding EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System chemical database (full testimony). This post by NRDC Senior Attorney Daniel Rosenberg, cross-posted from Switchboard, explains the importance of IRIS and how the program is under attack. Thursday morning, the House Science Committee’s Investigation and […]

Lesley McAllister | July 12, 2011

The End of the Acid Rain Program

Cross-posted from Environmental Law Prof Blog. Do you realize that the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency  last week represents the end of the famed Acid Rain Program? It’s a good thing because the Acid Rain Program had outlived its usefulness by several years and its allowance market had collapsed. Legislated […]

Ben Somberg | July 8, 2011

Member Scholars Pen Letter to OMB on Attacks on EPA’s IRIS Toxics Database

Last month, the American Chemistry Council sent a letter to Jacob Lew, Director of the Office of Managmenet and Budget, calling on OMB to “take greater responsibility in the coordination and review of chemical safety assessments” and to “require EPA to submit all ongoing EPA IRIS assessments to the NAS for independent review.” The letter […]