May 13, 2009 The Pump Handle 1Comment

by Pete Galvin You never learn much from a “wired” confirmation hearing, and that was true yesterday at the hearing for Cass Sunstein to be director of OIRA.  Only three Senators bothered to come (apart from his former student, now the Senator from Minnesota, who introduced him before leaving) and two short rounds of questions were […]

May 12, 2009 The Pump Handle

Early Sunday morning (May 10), I read a news brief from WSAZ reporting that seven workers had been rescued from a flooded underground coal mine in Gilbert, WV, after being trapped for 32+ hours.  As I combed the web for further details, I was struck by the news accounts and audio recordings noting that the trapped miners and their families had spoken […]

May 1, 2009 The Pump Handle

University of Maryland Law Professor Rena Steinzor called for fundamental changes to the role of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in federal regulatory review, at a House Committee hearing held on April 30.  The Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the Committee on Science and Technology has been examining OIRA’s functions and responsibilities, with the chairman stating: “…Though […]

April 11, 2009 The Pump Handle 1Comment

by Ken Ward, Jr., cross-posted from Sustained Outrage: A Gazette Watchdog blog Last August, Kanawha Valley residents lived through the spectacle of their public safety officials practically begging the folks who run the Bayer CropScience chemical plant to tell them what was on fire, and what toxic chemicals residents nearby were being exposed to. Remember […]

April 6, 2009 The Pump Handle 1Comment

For four days last month, the staff working on OSHA’s cranes and derricks rule listened to testimony and exchanged information with witnesses during the agency’s public hearing on the proposed safety standard.   The hearing concluded on March 20, yet another step in the now five-year process by OSHA to update its crane standards.  The standards on the books date back to 1971.  Troubling […]

March 10, 2009 The Pump Handle 2Comment

On March 17, OSHA will begin the public hearing phase of its rulemaking to improve workplace safety standards for cranes and derricks used in construction.   More than 30 individuals or organizations have notified OSHA of their intent to give testimony at the hearing, including several who also participated in the year-long negotiated rulemaking (NegReg) process used in 2003-2004 to […]

February 26, 2009 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 1Comment

By Celeste Monforton Last August 28, Bill Oxley and Barry Withrow, 45 were working at the Bayer CropScience’s plant  in Institute, WV when a massive fireball erupted in an area where methomyl for the carbamate insecticide thiodicarb (Larvin) is produced.  Mr. Withrow was killed immediately in the blast, and Mr. Oxley died after 43 days in a Pittsburgh burn center.   When I first wrote about this disaster, […]

February 10, 2009 The Pump Handle 1Comment

Cross-posted from CPR Blog, by Rena Steinzor We’ve written a great deal about Cass Sunstein, the Harvard law professor who is expected to get the nod to be the “regulatory czar” for the Obama Administration.   In a nutshell, our concern is that Sunstein will stifle the efforts of health, safety, and environmental protection agencies to […]

January 28, 2009 The Pump Handle 3Comment

By Jerome Paulson Starting on February 10th, companies won’t be able to sell children’s products that contain more than 600 parts per million total lead. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recently clarified the requirements under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, and put to rest the fear that thrift stores and consignment stores would have to […]

January 8, 2009 The Pump Handle 3Comment

Mr. Martimiano Torres, 37, was finishing up his 12-hour shift at about 5:30 am at the  Hallett Materials aggregate operation on Oct 1, 2008, when his pick-up truck curved off the road into a dredge pond.  He drowned.  The surface mine is located in Porter, Texas, outside of Houston, and owned by the multi-national corporation CRH.    MSHA released […]