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Sidney A. Shapiro

Fletcher Chair in Administrative Law

Sidney A. Shapiro holds the Fletcher Chair in Administrative Law at the Wake Forest University School of Law. He is the Chair of the board of directors of the Center for Progressive Reform.

Sidney A. Shapiro | January 11, 2010

Back to the Future: OMB Intervention in Coal Ash Rule Replicates the Bush Administration’s Way of Doing Business

As reported in a post Saturday, OMB has become the epicenter for industry efforts to head off an EPA regulation concerning coal ash. There have been 17 meetings between industry interests and OMB officials. When questioned about the large number of meetings, an OMB spokesman said, “This has been a very regular, very normal deliberative […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | December 15, 2009

Déjà Vu all Over Again: OSHA’s Inability to Stop Serial Violators on Display in New Hampshire Foundry

The Concord Monitor has identified a New Hampshire factory (Franklin Non-Ferrous Foundry) that has been the subject of previous OSHA investigations and fines, yet continues to expose its workers to dangerous conditions. OSHA’s most recent fine, $250,000, came after the agency found that a worker had high levels of lead in his blood. The newspaper […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | November 25, 2009

Toyota Cars and Automobile Regulation, Still Defective: Recall Could Miss a Million Faulty Cars. Congress Should Investigate.

This morning, Toyota Motor Corporation announced it intends to replace accelerator pedals on about 3.8 million recalled vehicles in the United States because the pedals can get stuck in a floor mat. But the recall could still leave more than a million faulty cars on the road. As I wrote earlier, there had been over […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | November 12, 2009

Defective: Toyota Cars and Automobile Regulation

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently chastised the Toyota Motor Company for claiming that no defect existed in its cars, even while recalling 3.8 million of them. Toyota instituted the recall one month after a Lexus sedan suddenly accelerated out of control killing four people near San Diego. When Toyota blamed the problem on improperly […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | October 6, 2009

‘Sound Science’ Attack on OSHA Nominee David Michaels Is Drenched in Irony

How’s this for any irony? David Michaels, President Obama’s nominee to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), has written a book, published by Oxford University press, documenting how industry manufactures doubts that chemicals harm people by accusing regulators and plaintiff lawyers of relying of “junk science” instead of “sound science.” Now, after Michaels has exposed […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | August 13, 2009

New York Governor Channels Ronald Reagan: Governor Paterson’s Flawed Plan to Review Regulations

This is one of two posts today by CPR member scholars evaluating NY Gov. David Paterson’s recent executive order on regulations; see also Rebecca Bratspies’ post, “Paterson’s Executive Order: Win for Industry, Loss for Public Health and Safety.” Who knew? With his newly announced plan to require New York departments and agencies to look back […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | July 30, 2009

‘Curiouser and Curiouser!’ Cried Alice … A Tale of Regulatory Policy in the Obama Administration

Like Alice's adventure, the development of regulatory oversight in the Obama administration is becoming "curiouser and curiouser." President Obama selected Cass Sunstein to be the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a curious choice since Sunstein, although one of the country’s most distinguished academics, is in favor of extending the use […]

Sidney A. Shapiro | July 30, 2009

Reviving OSHA: The New Administrator’s Big Challenge

On Tuesday, the White House announced the appointment of Dr. David Michaels to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). An epidemiologist and a professor at George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services, Michaels will bring substantial expertise and experience to the job. Besides being an active health research – he studies the health effects of occupational exposure to toxic chemicals – he has also written impressively on science and regulatory policy. His book, Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health, offers extensive evidence of how regulatory entities spend millions of dollars attempting to dismantle public health protections using the playbook that originated with the tobacco industry’s efforts to deny the risks of smoking. He is also an experienced public health administrator, having served as the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health in the Clinton Administration.

Sidney A. Shapiro | February 2, 2009

President Obama’s FOIA Order

On January 21, 2009, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum that I’m hopeful will be the start of undoing much of the excessive secrecy practiced by the previous administration. The memorandum, established that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) “should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.” A recent […]