Most people haven’t heard of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA, pronounced “Oh-EYE-ra”), a little-known division of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. Read more »
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As physicians and other health professionals, we have a unique opportunity to combine awareness of science with our professional experience by advocating to the EPA that it uphold its mission. Read more »

As citizens of the United States, we all sleep better knowing that if our property or health is threatened by others, we can seek assistance from our government. Read more »
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The public is exposed to numerous environmental chemicals, often at levels associated with adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes, such as effects on the developing brain including ADHD and IQ decrements, and childhood obesity. Read more »
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With the issuance in August of the fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for cars for model years 2017-2025, the Obama Administration may have now put forth the last major Environmental Protection Agency rule of its term. Read more »
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In the past few years, EPA efforts to set pollution standards that protect public health and the environment have come under increasing attack from industry lobbyists and their allies in Congress. Read more »

Fine particulate matter, consisting of airborne particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns contributes to the four leading causes of death in the United States: heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and stroke or cerebrovascular disease. Read more »

Under the Clean Air Act, ambient air standards are required to be set at a level sufficient to protect the health of “sensitive groups.” Read more »

Particulate matter (PM) pollution can have serious health impacts, especially when found in high levels in residential areas. Read more »

Preterm birth is an intractable public health problem affecting more than 500,000 infants per year in the United States. Read more »

Increasing fire activity is occurring across large parts of the planet. Whether due to wildfires or managed “control burns,” fires result in increased release of particulate matter (PM) that has a negative impact on human health. Read more »
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Researchers from EPA have estimated that over 100,000 people die prematurely each year in the US due to particulate matter (PM) exposure, and reductions in PM pollution during the 1980s and 1990s have been associated with as much as 15% of the increase in life expectancy in the US during that period. Read more »
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Environmental regulation has emerged as a key difference between the two major political parties and has become a prominent stroke in the different portraits painted by political candidates of this country's future. Read more »

We were contracted to do a Human Health Risk Assessment about options for a proposed natural gas drilling operation in a rural residential area in Battlement Mesa in Colorado. Read more »
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The only statement that we can make with certainty to date about the effects of hydraulic fracturing on the public’s health is that there are multiple pathways for potential harm, and that none have been researched enough to definitively link the process to specific health impacts. Read more »

In 2008, Cathy Behr, a Colorado emergency room nurse at Durango Mercy Regional Medical Center was working the day shift when a gas driller worker, Clinton Marshall arrived complaining of nausea and headaches. Read more »
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Natural gas has recently come to the forefront of the world's energy discussion. Hydraulic fracturing, used in combination with other recent key technologies, has enabled gas extraction from geologic formations of low permeability (e.g. shale) that were previously too expensive to exploit. Read more »
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Although hydraulic fracturing of wells for extraction of hydrocarbons has been used for more than sixty years, newer methods involving high volumes of fluids and horizontal drilling have been introduced recently and represent a massive increase in the environmental footprint. Read more »
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Now that the atmosphere over the Arctic contains 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide and the world hasn’t significantly reduced its greenhouse gas emissions, we should be gravely concerned about the push for more natural gas, a potent greenhouse gas. Read more »

When I speak to the public about environmental toxics, I often say that the American Chemistry Council and I agree on two things. One, we need more science; two, chemicals policy is most logically made at the federal level. Read more »
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