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.

The Small Business Charade The Chemical Industry's Stealth Campaign Against Public Health, CPR Issue Alert 1501
Type: Reports (Feb. 2, 2015)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor, Matt Shudtz, James Goodwin
Edit Memo: Barack Obama's Path to Progress in 2015-16: Thirteen Essential Regulatory Actions
Edit Memo: Barack Obama's Path to Progress in 2015-16: Thirteen Essential Regulatory Actions, by Rena Steinzor
Type: Editorial Memos (Nov. 12, 2014)
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Why Not Jail? Industrial Catastrophes, Corporate Malfeasance, and Government Inaction

Prosecutors have long neglected to hold corporate executives accountable for chronic mistakes that kill and injure workers and customers. Rena Steinzor's first-of-its-kind book analyzes five industrial catastrophes that have killed or sickened consumers and workers or caused irrevocable harm to the environment. From the Texas City refinery explosion to the Upper Big Branch mine collapse to the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and extending to incidents of food and drug contamination that have killed or injured hundreds, the root causes of these preventable disasters include crimes of commission and omission. In accessible and jargon-free language, Steinzor recommends innovative interpretations of existing laws to elevate the prosecution of white-collar crime at the federal and state levels.

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Author(s): Rena Steinzor
Name a tough prosecutor to succeed Holder

Name a tough prosecutor to succeed Holder, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Type: Op-Eds (Oct. 14, 2014)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor
Joint Scholar Letter on Congressional Review Act Resolution on New Source Performance Standard for GHGs
Joint Scholar Letter on Congressional Review Act Resolution on New Source Performance Standard for GHGs
Type: Legislative Testimony (April 2, 2014)
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Letter to House Committee on Science, Space and Technology re the Secret Science Reform Act

Letter from several CPR Member Scholars to House Committee on Science, Space and Technology re the Secret Science Reform Act, February 11, 2014.

Type: Legislative Testimony (Feb. 11, 2014)
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Author(s): Holly Doremus, Sidney Shapiro, Rena Steinzor, Thomas McGarity, Wendy Wagner
The Role of Health and Safety Evidence in Regulation and the Civil Justice System: Preserving Protection of the Public
Type: Reports (Feb. 6, 2014)
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Author(s): Thomas McGarity, Wendy Wagner, Sidney Shapiro, James Goodwin
Why are polluters getting discounts?

Why are polluters getting discounts?, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Type: Op-Eds (Dec. 28, 2013)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor

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