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Daniel Farber | June 1, 2011

The Endangerment Litigation

Cross-posted from Legal Planet. I’ve just spent some time reading the initial briefs in the D.C. Circuit on the endangerment issue.  They strike me as much more political documents than legal ones. A brief recap for those who haven’t been following the legal side of the climate issue.  After the Bush Administration decided not to […]

Matt Shudtz | May 31, 2011

OSHA Releases Self-Evaluation of its Role in Federal Response to BP Oil Spill

OSHA published a report (pdf) last week on its role in the federal government’s response to last year’s massive oil spill. Within days of the blowout aboard the Deepwater Horizon, OSHA officials were in Louisiana, working to ensure that the people involved in the response and cleanup had adequate protection from the myriad hazards they would […]

Holly Doremus | May 27, 2011

The New BOEMRE-NOAA MOU: A Good Start, But More is Needed

Cross-posted from Legal Planet. I was excited to read this story in the LA Times, saying that BOEMRE and NOAA had reached an agreement that would give NOAA more say in decisions to approve offshore drilling. (Draw whatever conclusions you like about what my geeky excitement says about how boring my life must be.) This […]

Amy Sinden | May 26, 2011

Administration’s Regulatory ‘Look-Back’ Announcement Panders to Industry, Focuses Primarily on Eliminating Regs, Diverts Agencies from Crucial Work

Following up on President Obama’s January Executive Order calling for agencies to conduct a regulatory “look-back,” the Administration today released a target list of health, safety, and environmental standards to be reviewed by agencies in the coming months, with an eye toward eliminating or modifying them. The President’s January announcement was driven by politics, and […]

Rena Steinzor | May 25, 2011

Sunstein to Outline Regulatory Review Plans; Industry Yawns; Public Health and Safety Agencies Lose out from Diverted Resources

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator Cass Sunstein heads to the American Enterprise Institute Thursday morning to speak about federal agencies’ plans to “look back” at and review existing regulations. Meanwhile, agencies statutorily obligated to protect public health and safety, such as EPA and OSHA, are diverting resources from pressing work so that […]

Thomas McGarity | May 19, 2011

The McAteer Report: A Mine Safety Blockbuster

The report issued this morning by the Governor’s Independent Investigation Panel on the West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29 miners at the Massey Energy Company’s Upper Big Branch Mine just over a year ago will never make the New York Times best seller list. But it should be required reading for all policymakers with […]

Rena Steinzor | May 18, 2011

Lisa Jackson Steps Back (Again) on Boiler MACT: One of the Top 12 Rules Now in Indefinite Limbo. Delay Violates the CAA

This post was written by CPR Member Scholars Rena Steinzor and Catherine O’Neill, and Policy Analyst James Goodwin. By any reasonable estimation, it should have been a jewel in the EPA’s regulatory crown. Released in February, the EPA’s final Boiler MACT rule (actually, it’s two rules—one addressing large boilers and the other addressing smaller ones) would […]

Matt Shudtz | May 13, 2011

Inventory Update Reporting Rule Delayed Following Five Industry Meetings at the White House and Some Specious Claims

EPA announced Wednesday that it is delaying the reporting period for its Inventory Update Reporting requirement. It’s not good news. EPA had announced its intention to revise (pdf) the TSCA Inventory Update Rule (IUR) back in August of last year. The TSCA Inventory is the official list of chemicals in commerce, and the IUR is the […]

Dan Rohlf | May 10, 2011

Tester: Don’t Get the (Toxic) Lead Out

In an impressive effort to demonstrate that crafting bad environmental legislation knows no partisan boundaries, Democratic Senator John Tester of  Montana – who recently spearheaded a successful effort to remove wolves from the endangered species list through a budget maneuver – last month introduced legislation to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating lead ammunition […]