Recent Projects

In addition to submissions to the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, Policy Integrity also sent our recommendations on developing policies for conducting retrospective reviews to fourteen additional agencies this week, including the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Small Business Administration (SBA), and the State Department.

Today, Policy Integrity submitted comments to the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Back in January, President Obama signed Executive Order 13,563 requesting that agencies develop and submit preliminary plans to periodically review existing significant regulations.

Policy Integrity submitted comments on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association’s (“FMCSA”) proposed revisions to its hours of service regulation (“HOS regulation”) for commercial truck drivers. The regulation dates back to the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, which has seen little change to its basic structure despite numerous subsequent revisions. Our comments find FMCSA’s proposed modifications lacking for several reasons.

Policy Integrity recently submitted comments to the EPA on their “Valuing Mortality Risk Reductions For Environmental Policy” white paper, which focuses on topics related to the EPA’s practices regarding the valuation of mortality risks.

Today, Policy Integrity submitted public comments on proposed regulations triggered by recent amendments to the Head Start Act. The revisions are aimed at maximizing the federal program’s impact.

Lately, labels on eco-friendly products have proliferated. It seems like almost everything is marked as “green,” “compostable,” “free of” something, or made with renewable materials. But who makes sure all these items are as gentle on the environment as they say they are?

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration proposed revisions to the labels that auto manufacturers have to put in the windows of their vehicles to let buyers know how much—or how little—gas their cars will guzzle.

In many places around the nation the toxic sludge leftovers of the coal combustion process are stored in vast unlined pools where poisons can leak into groundwater. Sometimes, like in Kingston, Tennessee, these holding pens break letting loose an avalanche of black poisonous muck.

Recently, the FCC asked for feedback on two issues: how so-called “specialized services” should be exempted from neutrality protections, if at all, and whether open Internet rules should be applied to wireless services in addition to wireline broadband services.