Recent Projects

Yesterday, the Obama Administration announced the plans from thirty agencies to conduct retrospective review of regulations—a step towards following up on a presidential executive order issued in January.

Today, the EPA and DOT announced new fuel-efficiency labels for cars. The new stickers will give shoppers detail on the environmental elements of vehicles—miles per gallon, greenhouse gas ratings and smog emissions.

This morning, Policy Integrity petitioned the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) to reconsider its leasing policies, which may encourage over-drilling. The topic is the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act’s (OCSLA) requirement of the Secretary of the Interior to develop five-year schedules that specify the timing for offshore leasing activity.

Mayor Bloomberg recently announced that the city will phase out the use of unrefined oil sludge and the most-polluting grades of heating oil, to be completed by 2030. The new rules target the airborne fine particulate matter from two grades of heating oil that when burned by buildings create more than 85% of the city’s heating oil soot emissions. It’s expected that 10,000 buildings will be affected, as the black smoke billowing from smokestacks that the city says is responsible for killing 3,000 residents each year is eliminated.

Today, Policy Integrity submitted comments to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)on its notice of proposed national standards to detect, prevent, and reduce the incidence of sexual abuse in the nation’s prisons. The proposal implements the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (“PREA”), which created the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission to study of the impacts of sexual assault in the United States; standards ultimately suggested by the Commission inform much of the DOJ’s proposed rule.

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.

Today, Policy Integrity sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Obama’s plan for voluntary incentive auctions of noncommercial broadcast television spectrum. This plan would permit the FCC to conduct incentive-based auctions of unused broadband spectrum, making more airwaves available for wireless broadband services to prevent network congestion amid shooting demand for services such as mobile web surfing.