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.

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Editorial memorandum on Wendy Wagner/David Michaels proposal for disclosure of corporate influence on science in the regulatory process.

Editorial memorandum: Wendy Wagner and David Michaels' proposal for disclosure of corporate influence on science in the regulatory process.
Type: Editorial Memos (May 6, 2009)
PDF: Editorial memorandum on Wendy Wagner/David Michaels proposal for disclosure of corporate influence on science in the regulatory process.
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Categories: Regulatory Policy Regulatory Policy

September 16, 2003: CPR's Steinzor Raps EPA for Enforcement Failures; Steinzor: 'EPA's Enforcement Program is Falling Apart'

CPR's Steinzor Raps EPA for Enforcement Failures; Steinzor: 'EPA's Enforcement Program is Falling Apart'

Type: News Releases (Sept. 16, 2003)
PDF: CPR's Steinzor Raps EPA for Enforcement Failures; Steinzor: 'EPA's Enforcement Program is Falling Apart'
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Categories: Regulatory Policy Regulatory Policy

April 30, 2009. Obama Administration Should Redefine Role of 'Regulatory Czar' to Help Protect Citizens, Not Weaken Regulation, CPR President Tells Congressional Committee

Type: News Releases (April 30, 2009)
PDF: Obama Administration Should Redefine Role of 'Regulatory Czar' to Help Protect Citizens, Not Weaken Regulation, CPR President Tells Congressional Committee
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Categories: Regulatory Policy Regulatory Policy

Reviving Regulation

Reviving Regulation, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Type: Op-Eds (Sept. 28, 2009)
PDF: Reviving Regulation
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor
Categories: Regulatory Policy Regulatory Policy

January 27, 2006: CPR's Steinzor on John Graham's Departure from OIRA: Graham Legacy is Weaker Safeguards, Cozier Relationship with Industry.

Type: News Releases (Jan. 27, 2006)
PDF: January 27, 2006: CPR's Steinzor on John Graham's Departure from OIRA: Graham Legacy is Weaker Safeguards, Cozier Relationship with Industry.
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Categories: Regulatory Policy Regulatory Policy

April 1, 2009. Supreme Court Ruling in Entergy v. EPA Narrow Enough to Leave Obama Administration Leeway to Protect Waters, Says Center for Progressive Reform Scholar, Amy Sinden

Type: News Releases (April 1, 2009)
PDF: Supreme Court Ruling in Entergy v. EPA Narrow Enough to Leave Obama Administration Leeway to Protect Waters, Says Center for Progressive Reform Scholar, Amy Sinden
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Categories: Regulatory Policy Regulatory Policy