Policy Solutions: Legislative Analyses

More Legislative Analyses

Oppose the REINS Act: H.R. 10/S.299

Legislative Analysis

The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (“REINS”) Act (H.R. 10/S. 299), introduced by Rep. Davis (R-KY) and Sen. Paul (R-KY), would undo more than 100 years of safeguards by allowing just one chamber of Congress to block enforcement of existing statutory protections -- from worker safety, to public health, to Wall Street reform. This would make Congress the required arbiter of every technical question and business dispute, and would allow a single chamber of Congress to stop any regulation, no matter what the facts showed. The REINS Act would effectively rewrite virtually every environmental and other regulatory statute, making their requirements unenforceable. Get document in pdf.

Reject the REINS Act: H.R. 10/S. 299

Legislative Analysis

The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny ("REINS") Act (H.R. 10/S. 299), introduced by Rep. Davis (R-KY) and Sen. Paul (R-KY), would fundamentally change the U.S. process for putting public safeguards into effect, upending a system that has protected the public for more than 100 years. The bill is designed to make it extraordinarily difficult to protect the public and to make the decision-making process far more political. The REINS Act would make the public less safe. Get document in pdf.

Reject BP Oil Disaster Amnesia Bills
H.R. 1229, H.R. 1230, and H.R. 1231

Legislative Analysis

One year ago, the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 workers, spilling 170 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and wreaking havoc on the environment. However, rather than seeking to prevent future disasters, H.R. 1229, 1230, and 1231 accelerate the very processes that the President's National Oil Spill Commission found led to the BP disaster. The three drill-at-all-cost bills would weaken the system for overseeing oil drilling that was in effect before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and mandate new drilling in sensitive ocean areas off virtually every coast. Get document in pdf.

Keeping Our Waters Safe:
The 112th Congress Must Not Strip the EPA’s Duty to Protect Our Waters from Pesticides

Legislative Analysis

Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registers pesticides that can be sold and used in the United States. FIFRA and its labeling requirements, however, are insufficient to protect many waters across the country. Only the Clean Water Act specifically aims to restore the most polluted waters or protect pristine waters from contamination. Despite this, special interest efforts--pushed by the chemical companies--are underway in Congress to undermine the Clean Water Act by exempting pesticide applications from the protections and safeguards of water quality monitoring and permits. Get document in pdf.

The Clean Air Act at 40
A Clear Track Record of Success

Legislative Analysis

The Clean Air Act is a genuine American success story and one of the most effective tools in U.S. history for protecting public health. It has sharply reduced pollution from automobiles, industrial smokestacks, utility plants, and major sources of toxic chemicals and particulate matter since its passage in 1970. The law has saved tens of thousands of lives each year by reducing harmful pollutants that cause or contribute to asthma, emphysema, heart disease, and other potentially lethal respiratory ailments. Despite continued gloom-and-doom forecasts by polluters and their corporate lobbyists, the Clean Air Act has consistently provided huge health, economic, and environmental benefits to our communities over the past four decades that far outweigh any small costs associated with controlling life-threatening toxic pollution.

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Oppose Efforts to Roll Back Light Bulb Efficiency Standards
Standards Do Not Ban Incandescent Bulbs, But Can Deliver American Families Savings of More Than $100 Per Year

Legislative Analysis

Several bills, including the BULB Act (S. 395 & H.R. 91), have been introduced to repeal or undermine energy efficiency standards for new screw-based light bulbs. Doing so would increase household energy bills, stifle innovation that is creating U.S. jobs, and increase air pollution that harms human health and the environment. Get document in pdf.

Clean Energy Innovation
A Clean Energy Deployment Administration Will Spur Domestic Clean Energy Production

Legislative Analysis

Well designed government support for clean energy innovation has the potential to increase U.S. energy independence and promote innovation and green jobs while reducing global warming pollution. Currently, financing provisions to support clean energy deployment are critically absent from the government’s portfolio. The Clean Energy Financing Title of the American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009 (ACELA, S. 1462 in the last Congress) passed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year provides a framework for a Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) to assist proven technologies in moving beyond the "valley of death" between demonstration-scale and commercial-scale projects. Critical changes, however, must be made to this legislation to ensure that CEDA’s supports home-grown energy technology innovations that are truly clean and are so new that they need government assistance, and that the program includes taxpayer protections.
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Clean Air Standards Will Cut Toxic Air Pollution from Industrial Plants and Save More Than 5,000 Lives Each Year

Legislative Analysis

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed emissions standards to control toxic air pollution from industrial plant boilers, which burn various fuels to produce steam used to generate electricity or heat for industrial operations. The EPA's proposed standards will require these boilers to limit toxic air pollutants including mercury, lead, arsenic, formaldehyde, benzene, dioxins, and acid gases. Get document in pdf.

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