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Showing 2,912 results

Celeste Monforton | October 14, 2010

MSHA Takes Bold Step to End Black Lung Disease, Proposes Tough New Regulation

Cross-posted from The Pump Handle. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and MSHA asst. secretary Joe Main are proposing new rules to protect U.S. coal mine workers from developing illnesses related to exposure to respirable coal mine dust. The most commonly known adverse health effect is black lung disease, but exposure is also associated with excess risk […]

Yee Huang | October 14, 2010

A Frank Assessment: EPA Finds Illinois’ CAFO Program Inadequate

The EPA Region 5 recently published a refreshingly blunt report on the state of concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) permitting in Illinois, and the assessment is disturbing. EPA concluded that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program for CAFOs “does not meet minimum thresholds for an adequate program.” Ouch. […]

Rena Steinzor | October 13, 2010

The Oil Spill Commission, the White House, and the Next Election

Whatever happens at the polls this November, President Obama will get a chance to turn the electoral tide in 2012, perhaps without the loadstone of recession around his political neck.  And, while the economy and many other issues will continue to occupy the President for the best and most obvious of reasons, it’s fair for everyone […]

Catherine O'Neill | October 12, 2010

Boiler MACT Rule Would Have Enormous Health Benefits from Air Pollutant Reductions — And That’s Not Even Accounting for the Reduced Mercury Emissions

EPA’s proposal to curb emissions from the second largest source of mercury in the United States – industrial boilers and process heaters – has come under fire in recent weeks.  Those industries that would be subject to the “boiler rule” have objected to its costs, and some senators have embraced their claims (see also Lisa Jackson’s […]

James Goodwin | October 8, 2010

CRE’s Proposed Interactive Public Dockets—Tilting the Regulatory Process Further in Industry’s Favor

Back in the 1970s, when many of the great environmental, health, and safety statutes were adopted, public interest groups shared an overwhelming optimism that greater public participation held the key to maintaining—and even expanding upon—their successes. All they needed was a seat at the  table where decisions are made, and their ideas would ultimately prevail. At first, […]

Ben Somberg | October 4, 2010

Farber LAT Op-Ed on California Climate Law

CPR Member Scholar Daniel Farber and Richard Frank, both of BerkeleyLaw, have an op-ed in the LA Times today on Proposition 23, the ballot initiative that would suspsend California’s climate law, AB 32. They argue: For California to retreat on the climate issue now would send a defeatist message nationally and worldwide. It’s true that […]

Ben Somberg | October 1, 2010

US OSHA Reviews State Plans

Over at The Pump Handle, Celeste Monforton looks at federal OSHA's review, issued this week, of the state worker safety programs.

Ben Somberg | September 30, 2010

New CPR Study Chronicles Series of Regulatory Failures that Produced BP Oil Spill

A new CPR white paper today argues that the BP oil spill and its attendant environmental and economic harm were entirely preventable, and indeed, would have been avoided had government regulators over the years been pushed and empowered by determined leadership and given sufficient resources to enforce the law. The paper, Regulatory Blowout: How Regulatory […]

Lena Pons | September 29, 2010

Sen. Landrieu’s Counterproductive Hold on the Lew Nomination

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.) currently has a hold on Jacob Lew’s confirmation to become the next director of the Office of Management and Budget, and says she won't release it until the Obama Administration ends the moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling. She said that while Lew “clearly possesses the expertise necessary to serve…he […]