Regulatory Policy

Regulatory safeguards play a vital role in protecting us from hazards and ensuring that companies that pollute, make unsafe products, and create workplace hazards bear the cost of cleaning up their messes and preventing injuries and deaths. Still, the regulatory system is far from perfect: Rules take too long to develop; enforcement is often feeble; and political pressure from regulated industries has led to weak safeguards.

These systemic problems are made all the more severe by the determination of the Trump administration to undercut sensible safeguards across virtually all aspects of federal regulation. Moreover, the President and his team have taken aim at the the process by which such safeguards are developed, aiming to take a system already slanted in favor of industry profit at the expense of health, safety and the environment, and make it even less protective. For example, where critics of the use of cost-benefit analysis see a system that understates the value of safeguards and overstates the cost of implementing them -- making it difficult to adopt needed protections -- the Trump administration seeks simply to ignore benefits of safeguards, pretending they do not exist. The result is a regulatory system that fails to enforce landmark laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and more.

CPR exposes and opposes efforts by opponents of sensible safeguards to undermine the regulatory system, fighting back against knee-jerk opposition to environmental, health, and safety protections. Below, see what CPR Members Scholars and staff have had to say in reports, testimony, op-eds and more. Use the search box to narrow the list.

What the Census Case Will Say About the Supreme Court
What the Census Case Will Say About the Supreme Court, op-ed by William Buzbee
Type: Op-Eds (April 23, 2019)
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Author(s): William Buzbee
Comments on EPA's MATS Reconsideration Proposal

Joint comments from CPR's Dan Farber, Catherine O'Neill, Rena Steinzor, and James Goodwin on the EPA's effort to undercut the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS rule), by eliminating consideration of "co-benefits," and with it, to lay groundwork for eliminating consideration of co-benefits from cost-benefit analyses for future environmental regulation, April 17, 2019.

Type: Letters to Agencies (April 17, 2019)
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Author(s): Daniel Farber, Catherine O'Neill, Rena Steinzor, James Goodwin
A defeat on offshore drilling extends the Trump administration's losing streak in court

A defeat on offshore drilling extends the Trump administration's losing streak in court, op-ed by Alejandro Camacho and Robert Glicksman

Type: Op-Eds (April 9, 2019)
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Author(s): Robert Glicksman, Alejandro Camacho
Enforce environmental laws before there's a fire

Enforce environmental laws before there's a fire, op-ed by Victor Flatt

Type: Op-Eds (April 7, 2019)
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Author(s): Victor Flatt
Relax: Green New Deal Means Practical Innovations

Relax: Green New Deal Means Practical Innovations, op-ed by Joseph P. Tomain

Type: Op-Eds (March 22, 2019)
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Author(s): Joseph Tomain
It's Official: Trump's policies deter EPA staff from enforcing the law

It's Official: Trump's policies deter EPA staff from enforcing the law, op-ed by Joel Mintz

Type: Op-Eds (Feb. 16, 2019)
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Author(s): Joel Mintz
Last government shutdown offers lessons on avoiding another

Last government shutdown offers lessons on avoiding another, op-ed by Joel Mintz

Type: Op-Eds (Feb. 6, 2019)
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Author(s): Joel Mintz
The Shutdown and the Safety Gap
The Shutdown and the Safety Gap, op-ed by Thomas McGarity
Type: Op-Eds (Feb. 5, 2019)
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Author(s): Thomas McGarity
Joint Letter to Senate Majority Leader McConnell calling for an end to the government shutdown, January 23, 2019.

Joint Letter to Senate Majority Leader McConnell calling for an end to the government shutdown, January 23, 2019.

Type: Legislative Testimony (Jan. 23, 2019)
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How Trump Officials Abuse Cost-Benefit Analysis to Attack Regulations

How Trump Officials Abuse Cost-Benefit Analysis to Attack Regulations, op-ed by Dan Farber

Type: Op-Eds (Jan. 9, 2019)
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Author(s): Daniel Farber

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