CRE has been advised that a teaching Module focusing on centralized regulatory review must address Sierra Club vs. Costle, accordingly we have provided:
(1) The report of the Administrative Conference of the US, ACUS Ex Parte and
(2) A CRE post on ACUS deliberations on the aforementioned report.
Comments by Professors Radin and Strauss on OIRA
Comments by Professor Williams on lack of knowledge of OIRA procedures
A case in point is the recent issuance of the New Source Performance Standard for Coal Fired Plants—a cornerstone of the Administration’s Clean Power Program.
When EPA issued its proposed rule, it was wed to CCS, an unproven technology in view of experts who developed it. Nonetheless the proposed rule presented the technology as being an economically viable technology.
Industry responded in very cogent comments that EPA had the facts wrong; subsequently industry made the same points when the rule was under review at OIRA.
However, where was industry during the Intervening time period? Yes numerous press releases were issued as well as a number of requests for Congressional intervention.
From: JDSupra Business Advisor
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that it is developing a project intended to support public dialog concerning the development and use of synthetic biology (synbio). EPA has oversight responsibility for the production and use of intergeneric microorganisms, including cyanobacteria, eukaryotic microalgae (genetically modified (GM) algae), and their products by application of genetic engineering approaches, including those called synbio. EPA’s recently posted document, US Environmental Protection Agency GM/Synbio Algae Project, states that it is focusing its project around GM/synbio algae applications.
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From: Lexology
Sara E Peters | King & Spalding LLP
Authorization of the federal pipeline safety programs will expire on September 30th of this year. With this looming deadline, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is scrambling to finish the 42 mandated rulemakings and studies required by the 2011 Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act (Pipeline Act).
To-date, PHMSA has completed only 26 of the mandates, leaving some of the most controversial issues unfinished, including rules on the use of automatic and remote-controlled shutoff valves; expansion of the integrity management program (IMP) requirements; maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) verification; and additional regulation of hazardous liquids lines.
From: Occupational Health & Safety
The rule includes requirements for the tunnel inventory, as well as inspection procedures and the qualifications and training of tunnel inspectors.
By Jerry Laws
The Federal Highway Administration’s bridge inspection program tallies the number of bridges in each state and how many of them are structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. The latest data (2014) show a total of 539,059 bridges, 26,117 of which (about 5 percent) were structurally deficient and 71,908 functionally obsolete. And because we’re driving more than ever—a record 987.8 billion miles during the first four months of 2015, FHWA reported June 24—it stands to reason these bridges, deficient or not, are handling more traffic than ever. The numbers support Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx’s urging that Congress boost spending on transportation infrastructure.
From: Transport Topics
The White House Office of Management and Budget is in possession of FMCSA’s electronic logging device and prohibition of coercion rules, and soon will begin its review of them, usually the last step before official publication.
OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs said it received the rules from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on July 30.
From: RevCycle Intelligence
The Hospital Quality Star Rating System from The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) is facing scrutiny. Some industry-wide trepidation exists about whether or not CMS’s Hospital Quality Star Ratings System will result in actionable, knowledgeable decision making, as RevcycleIntelligence.com reported earlier this week.
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CRE suggests CMS allow the public to collectively comment on data collection and provide consolidated Information Collection Requests (ICRs) to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs – especially in regard to burden cost estimates. CRE additionally requests for an explanation as to why the burden costs shown are mainly zero. CRE says such information “does not appear credible” and “could be disguised by submission of information collection requests in a piecemeal fashion and by using differing titles and explanations for the ICRs.”