Archive for the ‘Social Justice’ Category

April18

Texas refinery explosion draws attention to limited OSHA resources as factor preceding tragedy

By: Keith Wrightson

The West Fertilizer Company facility that exploded in a deadly blast Wednesday evening had not been inspected by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in at least 10 years. While we leave it to investigators to determine what exactly happened, we already know that this facility and ones like it operate with very little oversight, and that this is a problem.

Records show that the facility in West, Texas, owned by Adair Grain Incorporated, has not been inspected by OSHA in the past 10 years.

In the past five years, only two Texas facilities in the same classification – that produce fertilizer using ammonia – have been inspected by OSHA, records show. The agency, with a budget of roughly $568 million, lacks the resources to regularly inspect these types of facilities, including the many with high danger levels. Often facilities do not see an inspector for decades at a time.

While OSHA’s budget had increased slightly in the past several years, it was recently reduced yet again by budget sequestration, which means fewer inspectors to monitor facilities like the West Fertilizer Company. Small budgets also make it even harder for the agency to issue new safety standards. The agency’s budget is similar to what it was several decades ago, but the size of the economy – and the number and complexity of workplaces to inspect – has grown tremendously.

Though total occupational deaths are far lower today than they were decades ago, more than 4,000 workers still die every year on the job in the United States, most in incidents that could have been prevented. Last night’s tragic explosion in Texas is a reminder of the work still ahead to make our nation’s workplaces safer.

Devoting only a miniscule portion of our budget to protecting workers is a policy choice – and it’s the wrong one.

Keith Wrightson is Public Citizen’s workplace safety expert. Keep up with Public Citizen’s workplace health and safety work by following @SafeWorkers on Twitter.

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Posted in: Regulation, Social Justice, Workplace Health & Safety2 comments

March20

No New Gulf Leases for BP Is Good News, But Activists Must Keep Pressure Up

By: Tyson Slocum

Great news: BP has declined to bid on new Gulf oil leases.

It’s a victory for those still reeling from the havoc BP unleashed on the Gulf region, and it shows the power of activism.

In November, the government suspended BP from bidding on federal contracts. However, it did not say how long the suspension would last. Shortly afterwards, BP was downplaying the suspension to shareholders, telling them the corporation “has been in regular dialogue with the EPA” and was already negotiating with federal regulators to lift the ban.

In response, Public Citizen quickly called on the government to get a backbone and ban BP from receiving U.S. government contracts for at least the entirety of one of its affiliate’s five-year probation period (stemming from that affiliate’s guilty plea to criminal offenses stemming from the Deepwater Horizon disaster) because it has a proven track record of irresponsibility and dishonesty.

Public Citizen also launched a petition calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban BP from contracts for five years. That petition garnered several thousand signatures .  Now BP is singing another tune.

Once confident that it could quickly resolve its suspension, BP declined a provisioned offer by the Department of Interior (DOI) to participate in today’s auction of new Gulf of Mexico offshore drilling leases, suggesting that the corporation does not feel it can resolve the contract suspension within the time it takes the department to review new bids and award them to oil companies.

The Department late last week decided to buck the suspension and allow BP to participate in today’s lease auction, likely an attempt to drive up lease bids.

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Posted in: Activism, Energy, Environment, Open Government, Regulation, Social Justice, Uncategorized2 comments

February22

Thanks for nothing

By: Christine Hines

The U.S. stock market may have just lost a critical safeguard – accountability to investors. On Thursday, a panel at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), an industry-run group that regulates brokerage firms and exchange markets, disregarded its own policy, ruling that brokerage firm Charles Schwab and Company may insert class-action bans in its take-it-or-leave-it contracts with investors.

Schwab sought to capitalize on a recent corporate trend, following the 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, which permitted corporations to insert class-action bans within forced arbitration clauses in their one-sided contracts with consumers, investors and employees.

Forced arbitration clauses are used overwhelmingly by the securities and financial services industries. The practice deprives individuals of their right to seek redress in court. Studies and surveys on FINRA arbitration have shown that biases in favor of corporate entities and against weaker investors are evident in the private arbitration process.

Although limited to arbitration, investors who had similar claims against a broker-dealer could, under FINRA rules, band together in a single action in court against the firm. However, FINRA’s decision eliminates class actions, leaving serious claims such as fraud, unsuitable trading, breach of fiduciary duty and other securities law violations to be resolved in secret forums on an individual basis.

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Posted in: Activism, Congress Watch Column, Social Justice, Trade1 comments

February14

Landmark bill a double win for climate change and consumers

By: Tyson Slocum

"public citizen" "climate change bill" "senator boxer" "senator sanders"Our 300,000 members and supporters demand action on climate change – and pricing carbon is one important step. As a consumer organization, we’re acutely aware of the impact of higher energy costs on consumers, and the particularly harmful effects on working families and the elderly. That’s why it’s so important that this climate change legislation introduced today sets a price on carbon while at the same time protecting households by distributing revenue directly back to every family based on household size. Doing so will ensure the protection of both the climate and consumers.

By repealing oil company tax breaks, holding the fracking industry accountable and investing tens of billions of dollars into energy efficiency and green jobs, this legislation is exactly what we need to get America prepared for a sustainable energy future.

The president in his State of the Union called on Congress to act, and this bill delivers.

See the rest of the photos from the event on the Hill today on our Flickr page. 

Tyson Slocum is Public Citizen’s Energy program director. Follow him on Twitter @TysonSlocum.

Posted in: Activism, Climate Change, Congress, Social Justice, Uncategorized1 comments

February14

Action needed on two year anniversary of delayed worker safety rule

By: Guest blogger

By: Amit Narang and Keith Wrightson

Two years ago today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) submitted a proposal to  update the standard that protects workers from exposure to crystalline silica dust. The proposal was submitted to a small office within the White House’s Office of Management and Budget called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Although the review should have concluded after 90 days, two years later the proposal still remains under review, leaving the public in the dark as to how strong the new standard will be, much less when it will finally come into effect.

While the standard remains tied up  at the White House, leading scientists are convinced that OSHA’s current silica dust standard, which was issued in 1971, is leaving workers to be exposed to crystalline silica levels far exceeding those considered safe.

Over 1.7 million workers are exposed to potentially hazardous levels of silica dust, mostly in the construction, hydraulic fracking and sandblasting industries. Inhaling the dust causes lung cancer and silicosis, a debilitating lung disease. Silicosis also puts an increased strain on the heart and increases the risk of heart failure.

OSHA estimates that silicosis contributed to, or caused the deaths of 200 to 300 workers per year from 1990 to 1996 and says that many more silicosis-related deaths have gone undetected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says silicosis kills more than 200 workers per year and disables hundreds more, claiming more than 14,000 lives since 1968.

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Posted in: Activism, Health, Regulation, Social Justice, Uncategorized, Workplace Health & Safety1 comments

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