The Environmental Protection Agency's process for assessing chemicals joined some dubious company in January when the Government Accountability Office added it to its list of programs at high risk of waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement.
GAO is concerned that EPA's Integrated Risk Information System, the database that houses the assessments of toxic chemicals, might become obsolete because of how long it takes to complete the assessments. This is a problem because the information from the database is used by EPA to decide how to best regulate the chemicals. In one of its reports, GAO noted that some of the chemicals that have been in the process the longest are likely to cause cancer or other serious conditions.
John Stephenson, GAO's Director of Natural Resources and Environment, says EPA is making slow progress under new chief Lisa Jackson, but "we want to continue to be vigilant."
NationalJournal.com recently met with Stephenson to discuss the process and how EPA is handling it.
Continue reading EPA's Chemical Backlog Long And Lingering.
The Government Accountability Office has expressed concern that the Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Risk Information System database might become obsolete because the agency hasn't been able to complete timely and credible chemical assessments. EPA uses the database to determine how to best regulate chemicals. According to GAO, some of the chemicals that have been in the assessment process the longest may pose major health risks.
NationalJournal.com recently spoke with former EPA official William Farland about the process -- and about dioxin, a dangerous chemical that's been in the assessment process for almost two decades. Farland, now on the faculty of Colorado State University, spent 27 years with the EPA, serving as deputy assistant administrator for science throughout the Bush administration, and earlier as director of the National Center for Environmental Assessment.
Continue reading Former EPA Official Defends Dioxin Assessment.
When Epolitics founder Colin Delany describes himself, he sounds more like a surgeon than a blogger, devoted to "dissecting the craft of online political advocacy." Along with consulting on campaigns and running his blog, which won a Golden Dot Award in 2007 in the national politics category, Delany has authored two e-books about online political advocacy and organizing. Learning from Obama, his latest, published last week and has since been downloaded 1,150 times.
Picking apart what made President Obama's online efforts so successful during the campaign, the book breaks down the nuts and bolts of successful Web fundraising and recruitment. And in the spirit of social media, Delany agreed to sit for a Twitterview on his new book. He expounds (in 140 characters or less) on how to raise lots of money online, which medium to keep an eye on, and, well, the challenges inherent in Twitterviews. (Note: A few tweets have been lightly edited for clarity.)
Read The Complete Twitterview On Our "Under The Influence" Blog
Shortly before the Senate went on its August recess last week, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., outlined his view of the political landscape as well as the political fallout for Republicans from the Senate's 68-31 vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court.
McConnell's comments came during a phone interview on Thursday. Edited excerpts follow.
Continue reading Consulting On A Health Care Prescription.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island was one of the few Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee whom liberal legal scholars said embraced a more progressive judicial philosophy during Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings (subscription). NationalJournal.com's Amy Harder spoke with Whitehouse Tuesday morning about the larger battle between conservatives and liberals over the judiciary.
Read the interview at The Ninth Justice.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said on the Senate floor Wednesday night that her constituents' "overwhelming concern" about Second Amendment issues compelled her to vote against Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation. But that doesn't mean she thinks it was appropriate for the National Rifle Association to score the vote. Murkowski also speculated that Alaska's other senator, Democrat Mark Begich, is facing a similar amount of pressure from constituents on the same issue; he is one of just a few Democrats who have not announced their votes.
NationalJournal.com spoke with Murkowski on Wednesday night. Read the interview at The Ninth Justice.
On July 15, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced that they had chosen former two-term California State Treasurer Phil Angelides to lead the congressional Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The bipartisan commission, with six members picked by Democratic congressional leaders and four by their Republican counterparts, has an $8 million budget and a mandate to examine and report on the causes of the recent financial meltdown by the end of 2010.
Angelides (D), who lost a 2006 bid to unseat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), will serve with a GOP vice chairman, former House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, also a Californian.
National Journal spoke with Angelides by phone on July 20. Edited excerpts follow.
Continue reading Putting The Meltdown Under The Microscope.
In late June, the House passed legislation to cut U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases by 80 percent by 2050. The measure passed after its authors -- House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass. -- won the backing of an unusual coalition of electric utility companies, large industrial firms, farm groups and environmentalists.
American Electric Power President and CEO Michael Morris said he backed the measure in part because of the provisions negotiated by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., to protect continued use of coal. As the action on global warming moves to the Senate, National Journal talked to Morris on his long-term vision for the legislation and the industry.
Continue reading A Climate Bill That Doesn't Burn Coal.
As the full Senate began debate on Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, NationalJournal.com spoke briefly with Arizona Republican John McCain, who announced his intent to vote no on Monday. He said he isn't concerned about alienating Hispanic voters, despite warnings from his more moderate colleagues that that's exactly what he and other Republicans are doing with their "no" votes.
McCain also denounced the politicization of the Supreme Court confirmation process -- and took a jab at his 2008 presidential opponent, Barack Obama, for being "one of the major contributors to that."
Read the full interview at The Ninth Justice.
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