With his attractive family and a phalanx of top aides in tow, Professor Cass Sunstein had a cordial, 45-minute hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee yesterday. He was introduced by former student and current Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) who praised Sunstein as a teacher, mentor, and eclectic thinker, all qualities for which he is rightly known. Ironically, however, the remainder of the hearing could be summarized as efforts by the three Senators in attendance--Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), ranking minority member Susan Collins (R-ME), and Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI--to get Sunstein to pledge that eclectic thinking will not be his modus operandi at the White House. Full text
More than 10,000 oil and gas wells puncture the land within Pennsylvania's half-million acre Allegheny National Forest (ANF) -- more than in all the other national forests combined, according to the non-profit Allegheny Defense Project. Environmental impacts of the drilling include land disturbance from construction of roads, pipelines and wellpads. Environmental groups like the Sierra Club are concerned that these land disturbances are further fragmenting wildlife habitat within the ANF. They also contend that drilling and associated road-building contribute to increased erosion and water pollution, and that noise caused by the drilling spoils visitors' experience. Energy extraction in the national forests is allowed because of the multiple-use concept that the Forest Service (FS) is required by law to observe in its management of the national forests. So what's unusual about what's going on in the Allegheny National Forest? Critical analyses required by federal law that would normally inform the FS's balancing of the uses at stake are being omitted. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform Member Scholar Rena Steinzor on OSHA: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the most maligned and least respected federal agency with responsibility for protecting people's lives. Now that Hilda Solis has been confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Labor, we can only hope that a new OSHA administrator with a strong stomach, an iron will, and a yes we can attitude will be chosen to take over this troubled agency. Workplace injuries and illnesses numbered 4.1 million in private sector workplaces for 2006, or an average of 4.4 per 100 workers, down from 10.9/100 in 1972. Unfortunately, in all likelihood, these figures substantially understate the true incidence of injuries and illnesses. Recent studies by independent economists suggest that actual injuries may be as much as 30 to 69 percent higher than Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates. A total of 5,488 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2007... (Click on the headline to read the full post.) Full text
Center for Progressive Reform President Rena Steinzor blogs on what OIRA, presumably under Cass Sunstein, ought to be. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform President Rena Steinzor blogs on Cass Sunstein's likely nomination to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform President Rena Steinzor blogs on OSHA's failure to adequately regulate beryllium. Full text