Blog Posts and Analysis / Open, Accountable Government

Lawsuit Frees OSHA Toxic Exposure Data

A June 29 U.S. District Court decision ordered the Department of Labor (DOL) to disclose its Worker Exposure to Toxic Substances Database, the largest known compilation of workplace toxic chemical sampling data.

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GAO Issues Report on EPA Mishandling of Katrina

On the heels of a congressional hearing blasting the handling of public information about air quality after 9/11, a June 25 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report indicates the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) similarly failed the public post-Katrina.

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EPA Holds off Industry Attack on Health, Safety and Environmental Data

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has rejected the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Data Quality Act (DQA) challenge and appeal of supposed inconsistencies across several EPA databases. While agreeing to make a few changes, the agency refused the Chamber's demands that all variations between the EPA databases on chemicals be eliminated, stating that they were not errors but acceptable differences based on different scientific models.

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Vice President Avoids Oversight, Claims Office not Part of Executive Branch

On June 21, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

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Congress Moves to Create a Greenhouse Gas Inventory

In an effort to combat the causes of climate change, proposals to collect and publicly disclose accurate information on releases of greenhouse gases are moving forward in Congress. Two recently introduced bills seek to create an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, and during the week of June 18, the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee included a provision in its bill that would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create such an inventory.

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Congress Critical of EPA's Information on 9/11

In recent House and Senate hearings, Congress called to task the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman for misrepresenting the health dangers World Trade Center (WTC) dust posed to the public in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The Senate hearing, chaired by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), was held by the Committee on Environment and Public Works' Superfund and Environmental Health Subcommittee on June 20; the House hearing, chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), was held June 25 by the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

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NASA Inspector General Faces Tough Questioning from Congress

On June 7, the Senate and House held a joint hearing to investigate the conduct of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Inspector General, Robert Cobb. The hearing was conducted by the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Space, Aeronautics and Related Matters.

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