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Daniel Farber | March 12, 2012

Going Beyond the ‘Design-Basis Event’

A conventional approach to safety is based on the concept of design events. A building code might say, for example, that a building should be able to survive a 7.0 earthquake. This approach has been basic to the regulation of nuclear reactors. As the interim report of the post-Fukushima NRC task force explains: The regulation […]

James Goodwin | March 9, 2012

EPA’s Clean Water Act Jurisdiction Rulemaking Delayed Indefinitely

Inside EPA is reporting that yet another critical EPA rulemaking is now being delayed indefinitely.  This time it’s the agency’s rulemaking to codify a draft guidance clarifying whether Clean Water Act protections apply to wetlands and other marginal waters. EPA had projected on its online rulemaking gateway that it expected to issue a proposed rule […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | March 8, 2012

New CPR Paper Takes on Defensive Medicine Myths and the Unsupported Case for Medical Malpractice ‘Reform’

In 1975, Indiana lawmakers joined a small but growing group of state legislatures passing aggressive medical malpractice “reforms.”  Indiana’s law capped damages that victims of medical malpractice can recover at $500,000 and eliminated damages for pain-and-suffering altogether, Frank Cornelius, a lobbyist for the Insurance Institute of Indiana, played a role in helping pass this legislation. […]

| March 7, 2012

A New Twist in the Kiobel Case

Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum, the case asking whether corporations can be liable in federal court for violations of international human rights law.  In the decision under review, the Second Circuit – unlike every other circuit court to consider the question – had held that they […]

Daniel Farber | March 7, 2012

Court to Feds: ‘Pay Up for Katrina Damage’

Cross-posted from Legal Planet. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld a district court ruling that the federal government is liable for damage from the Katrina storm surge that went up the MRGO canal into the city. As I read the opinion, it is limited in three ways. First, it is […]

Ben Somberg | March 6, 2012

Greenhouse Gas Rule Now Stalled at White House Beyond Time Limit of Executive Order

On November 7 of last year, EPA sent the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) a rather important proposed rule – one that will, in some way, limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants.  The Greenhouse Gas New Source Performance Standard for Electric Generating Units for New Sources has now been […]

Robert Verchick | March 5, 2012

After Partial Settlement, Oil Spill Case on a Slow Boil

The BP Oil Spill case settled! Well, part of it. The smaller part. But, still, we must count this a victory for U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, whose reported 72 million pages of assigned reading will inevitably be shaved down. (Does this man have an iPad?) On Friday evening the court announced that BP had […]

Rena Steinzor | March 2, 2012

CPR Issue Alert: Administration’s Failure to Adopt Needed Safeguards in a Timely Way is Costing Lives and Money

The toll:  An estimated 6,500 to 17,967 premature deaths, 9,867 non-fatal heart attacks, 3,947 cases of chronic bronchitis, and more than 2.3 million lost work and school days. That’s just a partial tally of the costs Americans will bear because of unjustified delays in two critical health and safety regulations.  More broadly, the Administration’s Fall […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | February 28, 2012

What Does It Mean that the Public Overwhelmingly Supports Specific Types of Regulation, But Questions ‘Regulation’ in General?

A new Pew public opinion poll published last week shows substantial public support for specific types of regulation, but skepticism about regulation in general. While 70-89% of the public would either expand or keep current levels of five specific types of regulation, 52% say government regulation of business usually does more harm than good as […]