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Reinventing Government Inspections: Proposed Reform of the Occupational Safety and Health Act

In September 1991, 25 people died at the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet, North Carolina, when they were trapped in a factory fire. Witnesses to the fire said the employees could not escape because the building doors were locked, apparently to prevent pilferage. The North Carolina assistant labor commissioner subsequently stated that the locked doors constituted "serious violations" of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). The plant, however, had never been inspected for health or safety violations in its 11 years of operation.

Risk and the New Rules of Decisionmaking: The Need for a Single Risk Target

New rules are emerging to change the way the government makes decisions about cleanup of hazardous waste sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund). These changes have altered Superfund decisionmaking fundamentally and irrevocably, requiring the government to reach for new levels of accountability, rationality, and consistency. Central to the government's ability to meet this challenge is the way in which it makes and explains decisions about acceptable risks and required levels of cleanup.

A Practitioner's Guide to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act: Part I

Editors' Summary: Since 1910, the federal government has played a role in regulating pesticides. At first, the motive was to fight fraud, but as pesticides became more sophisticated and as environmental concerns grew, the government's regulatory efforts became more comprehensive. Now, near the dawn of bioengineered pesticides, with society confronting and reevaluating environmental risks, and with agencies facing fiscal challenges, pesticide regulation continues to evolve. It is a field of concern to the pesticide industry, of course, but in U.S.

Cottrell, Ltd. v. Biotrol Int'l, Inc.

The court holds that a cleaning product company may pursue its Lanham Act claims against a competitor for allegedly making false and misleading representations on its product label. The court first holds that the district court properly dismissed under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) the company's claim th...

Hart v. Bayer Corp.

The court holds that a district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over crop owners' state-law claims against various pesticide corporations and, thus, the corporations improperly removed the claims to federal court. The court first holds that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticid...

Oman-Fischbach Int'l (JV) v. Pirie

The court affirms an Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals decision denying a construction company's application for an equitable adjustment for additional costs incurred hauling waste from its construction activities at a U.S. Navy project at the Lajes Air Base on Terceira Island in the Azores. ...

Foundation for Horses & Other Animals v. Babbitt

The court holds that the National Park Service's decision to remove a herd of 12 horses from Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The court first holds that the plaintiff foundation provided no support for its assertion that the horse...

Gibbs v. Babbitt

The court holds that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regulation that prohibits private landowners in Tennessee and North Carolina from intentionally taking red wolves found on their property unless the wolf is attacking or has attacked a person, livestock, or pets, is a valid exercise of fede...

Colorado Farm Bureau Fed'n v. U.S. Forest Serv.

The court holds that farmer and cattlemen associations lack standing under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §551(13), to challenge the U.S. Forest Service's involvement with the Colorado lynx recovery plan, which concerns the introduction of Canadian lynx into the state. The court f...

Gibson v. Babbitt

The court holds that the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA), which only allows members of federally recognized Native American tribes to use protected eagle parts for religious purposes, does not violate the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA). The court first recognizes that the ...