Recent Projects

President Obama signed off today on a new Executive Order aimed at identifying and reducing regulatory burdens. It calls upon agencies to evaluate the effectives of old rules and issue reports on their progress.

Today, EPA was supposed to propose rules to curb stormwater run-off—the murky, polluted water that gushes into rivers and oceans after heavy rains. They now say the proposal will come in May.

The EPA released its first ever greenhouse gas standards for new power plants after a delay at the beginning of the year. The New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) limit emissions from new plants to 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour of electricity produced.

This week, President Obama laid out his blueprint for lowering corporate taxes. The response from Republicans: small businesses will suffer.

The EPA has again delayed its proposal of New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) targeting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The agency passed a September settlement agreement deadline and has not set a date for the actual release.

Currently, the federal government treats lease sales as a now-or-never decision. That’s an approach that leads to too many leases sold too quickly, at too low a price. Instead, BOEM should be waiting to sell these leases until the time is right—when they can get the highest possible price.

Policy Integrity recently launched a wiki aimed at providing a better understanding of how energy sectors are subsidized by the tax code. The wiki will gather the expertise of lawyers, economists, tax professionals, and concerned citizens to catalog tax breaks received by the fossil and renewable energy industries.

The United States Parole Commission, the board responsible for granting parole and supervising parolees in its jurisdiction, is considering a proposal to improve its procedures for determining how to respond when released offenders violate the terms of their parole.

The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development has issued two proposals that would significantly alter the way the government handles homelessness and institute major improvements to the agency’s work; Policy Integrity recently submitted a letter on both.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced new restrictions to the amount of time truckers can spend behind the wheel. DOT maintained an 11-hour limit on truck drivers’ hours, scaling back a proposal to give them more rest. The rule does introduce some new limits, including a reduction a driver’s maximum work week by 12 hours to 70 hours.