Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
A Stench That Sickens, and an EPA That Doesn’t Care
By Jonathan Smith, Earthjustice This holiday season, the Environmental Protection Agency intends to grant the wish of massive polluters to continue to release toxic emissions without reporting them. Defying recent directives from Congress and the second-highest court in the country, the EPA has proposed a rule that would continue to exempt large-scale factory farms from […]
As the Dietary Guidelines Process Begins, Health Experts Want to Keep Science Front and Center
By Sarah Reinhardt, Union of Concerned Scientists The Trump administration is now laying the foundation for the next quinquennial (five-year) makeover of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the public health community is taking notice. These guidelines are the cornerstone of the food and nutrition programs that help protect our most vulnerable populations—including millions of kids, seniors, […]
By Fixing Congress, the Planned H.R. 1 Could Strengthen Public Protections, Too
By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform Not long after their party regained control of the lower chamber in the midterm elections, House Democratic leaders unveiled their signature legislative action for the next Congress – a package of reform measures aimed at tackling some of the worst ethics abuses involving the Trump administration’s top officials and members […]
The FDA Dumps Its Recipe for Disaster
By Jessica A. Knoblauch, Earthjustice Ever wonder what “artificial flavor” means when you look at the list of ingredients on a packaged food? In some cases, it means chemicals that are known to cause cancer in animals and could cause cancer in humans. For years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed food manufacturers to use […]
Trump Administration Moves Forward in Rolling Back Clean Water Protections
By Natural Resources Defense Council The EPA’s new definition of the Obama-era safeguard would allow polluters to dirty our critically important streams, tributaries, and wetlands—and threaten the water supply of millions of Americans. The Trump administration released its new proposed plan for the Clean Water Rule today—effectively gutting a long-needed clarification of the Clean Water Act […]
Trump and DeVos Refuse to Listen to Survivors: Title IX Coalition Rallies at Dept. of Ed.
By Tori Slatton, People For the American Way In November, Secretary of Education Betsey DeVos released a highly controversial proposal that would effectively strip student survivors of sexual assault of their basic rights by fundamentally altering Title IX, which was enacted to prohibit sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. While the Obama administration wanted to better protect sexual […]
Trump Administration Emissions Plan “Flawed and Misleading” Says New Report
By Shannon Baker-Branstetter, Consumer Reports The analysis underlying the Trump Administration’s plan for rolling back fuel efficiency and greenhouse standards in vehicles is based on “fundamental flaws and inconsistencies, is at odds with basic economic theory and empirical studies, and is misleading,” writes a group of independent researchers in an article published last week. These conclusions parallel […]
NRDC and Partners Sue to Protect Marine Life from Seismic Blasting
By Natural Resources Defense Council Leading conservation groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service for its issuance of five new seismic blasting permits in an area twice the size of California, arguing that they violate the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. “Allowing seismic blasting at this scale in these waters is not consistent […]
Scientists to EPA: Stop Sidelining Science in the Air Pollution Standard Update for Particulate Matter
By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists More than 200 air quality and public health experts have penned a letter expressing concern about the limited scientific input into an air pollutant standard update. The 206 scientists are deeply troubled by recent actions of the EPA on its update to the health-based standard for particulate matter, a pollutant […]
Today Is the Last Day to Tell the Administration You Oppose Their “Public Charge” Rule. Here’s Why I Did.
By Amy K. Matsui, National Women’s Law Center Today is the last day for public comments regarding the Trump administration’s punitive and discriminatory “public charge” rule. This proposed rule would take the radical and unprecedented step of counting any of the following things against individuals applying for entry to the country or legal permanent resident (LPR or green […]
Agency Nixes Fracking Leases on Pawnee Tribal Land
By Jessica Knoblauch, Earthjustice It was a typical summer day in 2015 when Walter Echo-Hawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, discovered fracking operations near his home on Pawnee lands about 55 miles west of Tulsa. After stumbling upon a work crew surveying for a proposed pipeline, Echo-Hawk called the oil company responsible […]
California Seeks to Fortify Against Federal Rollbacks
By Annie Notthoff and Jon Colmenares, Natural Resources Defense Council The new legislative session opened Monday with California State Senate pro Tem Toni Atkins continuing strong environmental leadership by introducing SB 1 – the California Environmental, Public Health, and Workers Defense Act of 2019. The bill would protect California’s environment from efforts by the Trump administration to derail environmental […]
Trump Administration Eases Emissions Standards for New Coal Plants
By Natural Resources Defense Council As major climate change reports recently warned of the extreme dangers of rising carbon emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to roll back a 2015 federal clean air rule that requires new coal plants to install emissions-reductions technologies. “This is just one more foolhardy move by a misguided administration that […]
Despite Dire Climate Reports, Trump’s EPA Drags Us Backwards
By Lissa Lynch, Natural Resources Defense Council Lately just about every other week there’s both a new scientific report warning about the urgent dangers of climate change and a new proposal from the Trump administration rolling back climate protections. Today, Trump’s Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler released another take-us-backwards proposal to weaken the current carbon […]
Climate Report Proves Need for a Flood Protection Standard
By Joel Scata, Natural Resources Defense Council President Trump killed the federal flood protection standard, a policy put in place to ensure federally funded infrastructure—the hospitals, schools, and roads paid for by you and me through our tax dollars—was constructed with a higher margin of safety against worsening flood risks. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane […]
Factory Farms Slip Environmental Review for USDA Loans
By Ben Lilliston, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy In August 2016, the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency quietly announced a major change regarding its loan program for medium-sized Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The agency would no longer require an environmental review under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) prior to the approval of such loans. […]
Zinke Moves to Weaken Landmark Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Plan
By the Natural Resources Defense Council U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke moved forward today with a sweeping rollback of a conservation plan meant to protect the imperiled greater sage grouse as well as critical wildlife habitat that supports hundreds of other species in the western United States. “It’s hard to pretend at this point that Zinke […]
NRDC and Allies Sue Trump Administration to Protect Giraffes
By Elly Pepper, Natural Resources Defense Council Today NRDC and our partners filed suit against the Trump administration for failing to meaningfully respond to our petition asking them to list giraffes as an endangered species. In April 2017, we joined the Center for Biological Diversity, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Humane Society of […]
McNamee on FERC Harmful to Kansas and Iowa Wind Industries and Rate-Payers
By Rob Cowin, Union of Concerned Scientists There’s a little known independent federal agency whose decisions could have big impacts on states like Kansas and Iowa. It’s called the Federal Electricity Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC makes decisions that affect electric power markets and approval (or rejection) of applications to build interstate electric transmission lines that are […]
Methane Leaks From Oil and Gas Exploration: A Health Nightmare
By Vijay Limaye, Natural Resources Defense Council New research shows that, within the next seven years, nearly 2,000 Americans could die annually from oil and gas sector-triggered air pollution if dangerous methane emissions are not controlled. Such a future is, unfortunately, a grim outcome that a new Trump EPA proposal directly enables by rolling back protections that […]