On Friday, August 29, Carolyn Merritt, 61, the former chair of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (2002-2007) passed away after a valiant battle against metastic breast cancer. Advocates for workers’ safety will remember Ms. Merritt as an outspoken expert who minced no words when she insisted that work-related injuries and fatalities are PREVENTABLE. Tammy Miser […]
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure IÂ used to joke that the only plan the Bush administration had for dealing with air pollution was to put all the free radicals in jail. If you don’t know what a free radical is, it is a highly reactive form of a chemical, usually involving an unpaired electron. Radicals […]
Hmph!  I just read on the OMB/OIRA website that they have completed their review of Labor Secretary Chao’s proposal to change the way that OSHA and MSHA assess workers’ risk of health hazards. The OIRA website notice says their review was completed on August 25, and it was approved “consistent with change.”Â
It looks like California is once again picking up the slack for a federal agencies failing in their regulatory responsibilities. In this case, theyâre addressing the issue of chemicals in consumer products, as a step toward a broader âGreen Chemistry Initiative,â which is âaimed at promoting development of safer chemicals with policies to spur green […]
First, the good news: A federal appeals court has struck down a 2006 EPA rule that prohibited state and local governments from strengthening efforts to monitor pollution from power plants, factories, and refineries. Under the Clean Air Act, state and local governments are tasked with issuing pollution permits to power plants, factories, and other polluters. […]
Weâve written before about the alarming rate of bee death (or colony collapse disorder) around the world, and last week the British Beekeepersâ Association revealed that one in three of the UKâs honeybee hives failed to survive the winter and spring. Now, the Natural Resources Defense Council says that a new class of pesticides might […]
In todayâs Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Robert McClure highlights a case involving a consultation under the Endangered Species Act â the very aspect of the ESA that the Bush Administration wants to slash. EPA has approved three pesticides â chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion â for use in areas where they will affect several species of salmon that […]
The Bush Administration wants to make it easier for federal agencies to get around the Endangered Species Act. The Washington Postâs Juliet Eilperin explains: Under current law, agencies must subject any plans that potentially affect endangered animals and plants to an independent review by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. […]
by Nathan Fetty An editorial in today’s New York Times is the latest media piece about the abysmal failures surrounding last summer’s Crandall Canyon mine disaster in Utah. Now that investigators have revealed how the company knew of the mine’s dangers, the Times says, a criminal probe is in order. Plus, MSHA’s deference to the […]
In a commentary on this morningâs Marketplace, the Cato Instituteâs Will Wilkinson critiqued T. Boone Pickensâ new energy plan â and in doing so, painted a misleading picture of the governmentâs role our energy usage. Pickens wants wind energy to replace natural gas in electricity generation, and use the freed-up natural gas to fuel vehicles […]