Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
Is Scientific Integrity Safe at the USDA?
By Karen Perry Stillerman, Union of Concerned Scientists Science is critical to everything the US Department of Agriculture does—helping farmers produce a safe, abundant food supply, protecting our soil and water for the future, and advising all of us about good nutrition to stay healthy. I recently wrote about the Trump administration’s new USDA chief […]
CPR, Public Interest Allies Call on EPA to Abandon ‘Benefits-Busting’ Rule
By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform Earlier this week, 19 Member Scholars with the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that provide a detailed legal and policy critique of the agency’s “benefits-busting” rulemaking. Since early July, EPA has been accepting feedback on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) […]
Happy 10th Birthday to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act!
By Genna Reed, Union of Concerned Scientists Since the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) became law, it has done a number of things to protect children from exposure to lead in toys and other items, improved the safety standards for cribs and other infant and toddler products, and created the saferproducts.gov database so that consumers have a […]
Trump’s OSHA Backtracks on Electronic Recordkeeping Rule Over Bogus Privacy Concerns
By Katie Tracy, Center for Progressive Reform The Trump administration has aggressively sought to undermine public safeguards since taking office, all under the guise of making America great (again?). Nowhere has this been more evident than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where Trump appointees have sought to attack most every standard adopted during the Obama […]
UCS Survey Shows Interior Department Is Worse Than We Thought—And That’s Saying Something
By Joel Clement, Union of Concerned Scientists Can scientific staff at the US Department of the Interior rest easy knowing that their colleagues at other agencies have it worse when it comes to political interference? Survey says: Nope. Today the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released the results from their periodic survey of scientific professionals at federal […]
Senators Move to Undo Clean Water Protections
By Amy Mall, Natural Resources Defense Council Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) recently introduced legislation that would weaken the Clean Water Act, making it easier for polluting companies to build dirty oil and gas pipelines, massive dams, and other harmful projects that pose significant threats to rivers, wetlands, and other water bodies around the country. The bill […]
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Results of Our 2018 Federal Scientists Survey
By Jacob Carter, Union of Concerned Scientists In February and March of this year, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) conducted a survey of federal scientists to ask about the state of science over the past year, and the results are in. Scientists and their work are being hampered by political interference, workforce reductions, censorship, […]
Historic FTC Charge Against Four Auto Dealerships with Deceptive Business Practices
By Remington Gregg, Public Citizen The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the authority to file complaints against individuals when the law is being violated and when it believes doing so would be in the public interest. This month, the FTC flexed that power by bringing strong enforcement actions against several auto dealerships that allegedly ripped […]
Trump Administration Takes Aim at Public Health Protections
By Julie McNamara, Union of Concerned Scientists In a new regulatory effort, the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims to be working to increase consistency and transparency in how it considers costs and benefits in the rulemaking process. Don’t be fooled. Under the cover of these anodyne goals, the agency is in fact trying to […]
Trump EPA’s “Dirty Power Plan” Coming Soon
By David Doniger, Natural Resources Defense Council As the nation and the world suffer another summer of record heat waves, devastating wildfires, and alarming weather extremes, EPA’s Acting Administrator Andy Wheeler is preparing to issue the Trump Administration’s “do-nothing” replacement proposal for the Clean Power Plan this month. Power plants and motor vehicles are our […]
The Trump Administration Continues to Protect Financial Predators
By Better Markets Following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) dangerous and despicable policies (averaging more than 2 harmful, anti-consumer actions a month) of putting the interests of financial predators ahead of Main Street American consumers and families, the Department of Education has announced a series of proposed rule changes that put the priorities of […]
The Organic Industry Isn’t Perfect, But It’s Transparent
By Cameron Harsh, Center for Food Safety In a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal titled “The Organic Industry is Lying to You,” Henry I. Miller claims that the organic food industry is guilty of “false and deceptive advertising” when it asserts that its products are less toxic than “conventional” food. Subsequent to the publication […]
The Story of the Grieving Orca Mother Is Heartbreaking—and a Call to Action
By Rhea Suh, Natural Resources Defense Council Tahlequah is one of only 75 Southern Resident Killer Whales left in the wild. To save them and other imperiled wildlife, we must stop the Trump administration from gutting the Endangered Species Act. Tahlequah carries her deceased calf, which died soon after birth.David Ellifrit/Center for Whale Research Every […]
What’s in Your Water? Trump’s New Coal Ash Regulation Rollback Threatens Families
By Mary Anne Hitt, Sierra Club As I travel this week to visit family in Tennessee for one last summer trip before the school year starts, I can’t put some work-related issues out of my head. I’m thinking of the massive coal ash spill near Harriman, Tennessee in 2008, when more than one billion gallons […]
Will Andrew Wheeler Follow Scott Pruitt’s Lead on Clean Water?
By Maggie Flaherty, League of Conservation Voters The week before he was booted from office, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt released a memo directing the EPA’s Office of Water staff to draft a proposal to weaken the Clean Water Act, one of the two bedrock laws that protect our clean water. Now, Andrew Wheeler, the […]
Study: Pesticides May Pose Greater Risk to Marine Mammals
By Stacy Woods, Natural Resources Defense Council When the Trump administration reversed a planned ban to get the pesticide chlorpyrifos off fruits and vegetables in the U.S. in 2017, it ignored an abundance of scientific evidence establishing the significant risks posed by the pesticide to people and to wildlife. Luckily, today’s court ruling sided with the health of families over the […]
The Trump Administration’s Flawed Reasons for Rolling Back Clean Car Standards
By Matt Casale, U.S. PIRG The Trump administration is making some pretty outlandish claims to justify its rollback of the nation’s most effective program at fighting climate change. Asserting that stronger fuel economy standards make our roads less safe, the administration moved last week to weaken Obama-era clean car standards — but their claims just aren’t true. […]
Court Sides with Science, Children’s Health on Chlorpyrifos
By Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, Natural Resources Defense Council After decades of advocacy and thousands of scientific studies, chlorpyrifos—a pesticide widely used on fruits and vegetables—may finally be headed to the history books. Yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must finalize its proposed ban on chlorpyrifos—a pesticide linked to learning disabilities in children—within 60 […]
Rick Perry Rejects Facts in Favor of Coal and Nuclear Bailouts
By Jeremy Richardson, Union of Concerned Scientists Much has been written on coal and coal miners since the president began campaigning in earnest in 2016. Since taking office, he has continued that dishonest and dangerous rhetoric—and has directed his agencies to do something. Anything. Except, of course, anything that represents real solutions for coal miners and their communities, instead proposing […]
Children Exposed to Lead in Drinking Water at Day Care Centers
By Susan Little, Environmental Working Group More than 4 million American children spend at least part of the day at child care centers. How widespread is lead contamination of the tap water at these facilities? Because only seven states require child care centers to test for lead, it’s impossible to say. But a recent study […]