12 Aug 2011
Drinking Water Regulations and Conservation:
The latter makes the former more expensive
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics
A report in the Barnstable Patriot suggests that water conservation is raising the cost of drinking water in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
More...2 Aug 2011
Zero Tolerance Reycling:
$1,000 tickets for recyclables in the trash
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy
Freeman Klopott of the Washington Examiner reports "[r]esidents and business owners in some of the District's wealthiest neighborhoods are outraged over tickets they've received for up to $1,000 by the city's trash police for having a recyclable item as small as a soda can mixed in with their trash."
More...1 Apr 2011
Disease Clusters and Environmental Health:
Oral Testimony of Richard B. Belzer
by Richard Belzer
in Legislation, Regulatory Science
In his capacity as President of Regulatory Checkbook, Neutral Source's Managing Editor Richard Belzer was asked to testify before the US Senate on scientific and technical issues related to the identification and verification of environmental disease clusters. The bill under consideration is S. 76, the "Strengthening Protections for Children and Communities From Disease Clusters Act," co-sponsored by Sens. Boxer (D-CA) and Crapo (R-ID).
Neither Regulatory Checkbook nor Neutral Source take positions on or advocate the passage or defeat of substantive legislation.
The full oral testimony is reproduced below the jump.
The full written testimony is here.
More...31 Mar 2011
Disease Clusters and Environmental Health:
Written Testimony of Richard B. Belzer
by Richard Belzer
in Legislation, Regulatory Science
In his capacity as President of Regulatory Checkbook, Neutral Source's Managing Editor Richard Belzer was asked to testify before the US Senate on scientific and technical issues related to the identification and verification of environmental disease clusters. The bill under consideration is S. 76, the "Strengthening Protections for Children and Communities From Disease Clusters Act," co-sponsored by Sens. Boxer (D-CA) and Crapo (R-ID).
Neither Regulatory Checkbook nor Neutral Source take positions on or advocate the passage or defeat of substantive legislation.
The full written testimony is reproduced below the jump.
The full oral testimony is here.
More...1 Mar 2011
The REINS Act:
Would it work as intended?
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Policy
House and Senate Republicans have proposed legislation (HR 10, S 299) intending to substantially change federal regulatory practice. The proposed Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2011 (The "REINS Act").
What is the bill supposed to do? What is it likely to do?
More...21 Jan 2011
Regulatory Review in the Obama Administration:
Clinton and Obama directives compared
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Policy
On January 18, President Obama issued an executive order that modifies longstanding principles and procedures for centralized regulatory oversight conducted by by the Office of Management and Budget.
The three tables below provide a side-by-side comparison of the new text with the text of Executive Order 12,866, issued by President Clinton in 1993. To guide readers in making comparisons, text that is underlined is the same in both documents.
Interpreting such texts requires close attention to detail. For this reason, we have color-coded both texts as follows:
GREEN HIGHLIGHT: Directive language (e.g., "shall", "must") with tightly defined verbs (e.g., "identify", "assess", "design", "maximize", "promulgate") often applied to concrete objects (e.g., "net benefits", "duplicative", "burdensome", "least burdensome", "most cost-effective") sometimes comprehensively (e.g., "only").
Objective performance evaluation generally is possible.
YELLOW HIGHLIGHT: Hortatory language (e.g., "should", "may") with loosely defined verbs (e.g., "consider", "promote", "endeavor to provide", "harmonize"), or used to modify directive language ambiguously (e.g., "where feasible and appropriate", "to the extent feasible").
Objective performance evaluation typically is impossible.
Where GREEN text is preceded or followed by YELLOW text, the result is always weaker.
More...
19 May 2010
Carbon Taxes:
Reduce global warming or raise revenue?
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics
Previously we have blogged on so-called Pigouvian taxes as policy remedies for addressing climate change, noting how they often degenerate into schemes for raising revenue rather than equalizing private and social cost. Today's news brings another example.
More...14 Jan 2010
Paperwork Reduction Act
How to improve implementation of the law
by Richard Belzer
in Paperwork Burdens
On October 28, 2009, the Office of Management and Budget solicited comments on its implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act. The purpose of the PRA is to minimize burdens on the public resulting from the federal government's information requests.
Neutral Source managing editor Richard Belzer submitted comments on his own behalf. These comments eventually will be uploaded by OMB to Regulations.Gov, the Federal government's web portal for all regulatory matters. (Clicking on the link above will reveal a fundamental weakness of the web portal: Unless the agency chooses to include information identifying the name and organizational affiliation of the submitter, there is no way to find any specific comment without opening them all.)
In response to numerous requests, a copy of these comment is posted to the Library.
More...23 Nov 2009
Climate Change v. Scientific Method:
Emails suggest a serious failure in peer review
by Richard Belzer
in Peer Review, Regulatory Science
Last week, unknown hackers broke into the computer at the University of East Anglia's (UK) Climate Research Unit, downloaded a trove of emails and other documents, then posted them on the web for all to see.
More...21 Nov 2009
Government as Competitor:
Eliminating the 'public option' produces a market
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics
Local governments across the country arte having to cut services to balance their budgets. Roanoke (VA) has cut curbside leaf collection, and the result is a vibrant private market.
More...13 Oct 2009
Cap and Trade, Part 5:
How Pigouvian taxes turn into mere revenue generators
by Richard Belzer
in Legislation, Regulatory Economics
Economic incentive schemes are popular among economists and increasingly embraced by legislators. Cap-and-trade to control greenhouse gas emissions is perhaps the most visible of these incentive schemes. Pigouvian taxes are the other, and news today from an unexpected source provides useful and interesting lessons in how such taxes can work -- and how they can degenerate into plain vanilla taxes.
More...10 Jul 2009
Conflating Risk Assessment and Risk Management:
The G-8 Communique on climate change
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Policy, Regulatory Science
The summer G8 meeting is over, and the press is reporting that leaders were unable to reach agreement on climate change. For example:
- Reuters: "G8 leaders failed to persuade India and China to join a push to cut greenhouse emissions by 50 percent by 2050," and "a G8 deal to reduce its greenhouse gas emission by 80 percent by 2050 was thrown into doubt within hours of being announced."
- Wall Street Journal: "The world's richest and its largest developing economies made a little progress in bridging the gaps that divide them Thursday, agreeing on the ultimate goal for climate change negotiations, and a relaunch of stop-start trade talks that have dragged on for eight years."
- New York Times: "The world’s biggest developing nations, led by China and India, refused Wednesday to commit to specific goals for slashing heat-trapping gases by 2050, undercutting the drive to build a global consensus by the end of this year to reverse the threat of climate change."
However, the G8 leaders were able to reach an agreement that scientists are in charge of climate change policy-making and that the benefits of mitigation far outweigh the costs.
More...7 Jul 2009
Cap and Trade, Part 3:
Waxman-Markey moves to the Senate
by Richard Belzer
in Legislation, Regulatory Policy
The Obama Administration's "cap and trade" bill to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (HR 2454, Waxman-Markey) has moved to the Senate, where the leadership hopes to have a bill ready to bring to the floor by September. The Washington Post reports that the bill is 15 to 20 votes short.
More...27 Jun 2009
Cap and Trade, Part 1:
Compensating tariffs or trade war?
by Richard Belzer
in Legislation, Regulatory Economics
The House leadership plans to amend Waxman-Markey to impose trade sanctions on countries that do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions. International adherence to effective restrictions is essential for the bill to have any effect on global emissions. However, trade sanctions would have the effect of significantly reducing international trade and protect energy-sensitive US industries and their workers from foreign competition. This amendment would compel other nations (chiefly China) to adhere to US emission standards if they want to continue exporting to the US. These nations likely would interpret such demands as trade restrictions impermissible under existing WTO agreements.
More...7 Jun 2009
Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, Part 4:
Scientific causation
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Science
A careful look at parts of EPA's proposed endangerment finding show the causal chain that the Agency believes is scientifically sufficient. This causal chain has interesting implications for air pollution policy more generally.
More...
