News

OMB Urged to Advance the Administration?s Environmental Agenda

06/07/2013

A letter signed by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA) urges OMB to take “prompt action” to expedite the rulemaking process and improve transparency on “key standards to protect public health, worker safety and the environment.”  Citing Executive Order 12866, OMB has missed deadlines to process certain regulatory actions.  Among the pending rules listed in the letter is OSHA’s proposed rule on silica dust.  The proposal has been at OMB for over two years.  The letter states that the silica rule would “prevent approximately 60 deaths per year”, and that “1.7 million additional workers are exposed to dangerous levels of silica every year.”