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Showing 2,810 results

Matt Shudtz | September 8, 2010

Scientific Uncertainty About BPA Is the Inevitable Result of a Broken TSCA

In Tuesday’s New York Times story, “In a Feast of Data on BPA Plastic, No Final Answer,” Denise Grady characterizes the continued development of new studies about the endocrine disrupting chemical as yet another dispute between environmentalists and chemical manufacturers over a ubiquitous chemical with uncertain health effects. While her assessment of the state of the […]

Alyson Flournoy | September 3, 2010

Painting by Numbers: A Recipe for Disaster

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill offers a chance to learn a lesson that we should have learned five years ago.  Certainly, the two events differ in important ways – the hurricane itself was a force of nature, and the oil well blowout although powered by nature, was clearly the result of […]

Ben Somberg | September 3, 2010

Programming Note: Shapiro on Leslie Marshall Radio Show This Evening

CPR Member Scholar Sidney Shapiro will be on the Leslie Marshall Show at 7:20ET this evening discussing regulatory failures, from the BP oil spill to the Katrina disaster of five years ago, and the lessons learned. The program is syndicated on TalkUSA and streams live.

Yee Huang | September 2, 2010

For the Price of a Speeding Ticket: Raw Sewage in a River Near You

The Capital of Annapolis reported recently on the alarmingly low penalties assessed by the Maryland Department of Environment for massive spills of raw sewage—containing a mix of untreated human, residential, agricultural, and industrial wastewater—into the state’s waters. This article supports one of the key findings from CPR’s report, Failing the Bay: Clean Water Act Enforcement in […]

James Goodwin | September 1, 2010

The Costs of Regulatory Delay: Could We Have Stopped 1,470 From Being Sickened by Salmonella-Laced Eggs?

On July 9, 2010, following more than 10 years of interference and delay, the Food and Drug Administration’s rule to prevent salmonella contamination in eggs finally went into effect. FDA officials have argued that this rule—which, among other things, requires farms to test eggs and facilities for salmonella, protect feed and water from contamination, and buy […]

Catherine O'Neill | September 1, 2010

Egg Industry’s Effort to Push Salmonella Problem as Consumers’ Fault A Worrying Example of ‘Risk Avoidance’ Policy Approaches to Health and Safety Regulation

According to the egg industry, the thousands of people sickened by eggs contaminated with Salmonella enteritidis have only themselves to blame. As USA Today reported: “Consumers that were sickened reportedly all ate eggs that were not properly or thoroughly cooked. Eggs need to be cooked so that the whites and yolks are firm (not runny) which […]

Ben Somberg | August 31, 2010

Not Carbon Offsets, but Carbon Upsets

CPR Member Scholar Douglas Kysar has an opinion piece in the Guardian making the case for Carbon Upsets. Upsets, you ask? That is: Rather than award credits based on development that moves us toward a cleaner but still very dirty future, why not award credits to legal and political actions that have more dramatic impact? […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | August 31, 2010

Boehner’s Attack on Regulation Runs Afoul of Lessons From BP and Katrina

Cross-posted from the Huffington Post. Eager to blame the state of the economy on the Administration, House Minority Leader John Boehner recently tried to argue that the Administration’s regulatory agenda is standing in the way of recovery. Sadly for Boehner, he tried to make that case shortly before the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and […]

Rena Steinzor | August 30, 2010

At Coal Ash Hearing, Poisoned Waters and the ‘Stigma Effect’ on the Agenda

The below is testimony (PDF) given today by CPR President Rena Steinzor at the EPA’s public hearing on coal ash regulation. The hearing, in Arlington, VA, is the first of seven; the public comment period has been extended to November 19. See CPR on Twitter for updates from the hearing. We are all familiar with […]