U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch reintroduces the SCRUB Act, the European Parliament delays its vote on TTIP, and more . . .
- U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch will reintroduce the Searching for and Cutting Regulations That Are Unnecessarily Burdensome Act—also known as the SCRUB Act—which will establish a bipartisan committee for reviewing and identifying existing rules that the committee decides warrant repeal.
- The European Parliament (EP) delayed its debate and vote on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—a proposed trade and investment agreement between the European Union and the United States—after 116 amendments were introduced.
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit denied petitions brought by several coal companies and states against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its proposed rule to curtail emissions released by power plants, concluding that the court only has authority to review final rules, and not proposed rules.
- U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski held a final legislative hearing on 42 proposals aimed at reforming—and promoting governmental accountability of—the country’s national energy policies.
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the ACLU of Oregon filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a criminal case, asking the court to rule that the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance of Americans is unconstitutional.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to evaluate the creation of domestic and international emissions standards for airplanes, and proposed findings about the impact of airplane emissions on air pollution.
- U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx issued two reports—created after the recall of General Motors’ vehicles—that alter the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) investigation process for vehicle defects.
- A coalition of health groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is petitioning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban certain synthetic flavors in food, which the group says are known to cause cancer in lab animals.
