Industry Test-Fires New Secrecy Weapon
"A case in point was a petition filed November 25, 2002, by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), a specialized lobbying/law firm, on behalf of the Kansas Corn Growers Association and the Triazine Network. It challenged EPA’s published references to a scientific study suggesting that atrazine, a weed-killer used widely on corn and soybeans in the Midwest, had endocrine-disrupting effects on frogs."
"But the CRE challenge also has a broader sweep: it asserts that the government may neither publish nor use scientific studies until government validation protocols are finalized. It would substitute for the prevailing standard of independent peer review by the scientific community, a process controlled by the White House Office of Management and Budget."
"CRE’s move has major potential as a precedent. CRE head Jim Tozzi, for years a Washington environmental lobbyist after having long served as head of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, was also a major behind-the-scenes architect of the Data Quality Act, which now places major control over data quality decisions with OMB."
Environmental Writer, December 17, 2002
The Tozzi Decision: Another Arrow in Manufacturers’ Quiver in Product Defense Wars
"Tozzi [v. Department of Health and Human Services] is a positive development, and provides industry with reason to cheer."
EPA Administrative Law Reporter, November 2001, Volume 18, Number 5
Courts Face Key Test On Jurisdiction Of EPA Data Quality Decisions
"However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled recently in Flue-cured Tobacco v. EPA to uphold a contentious EPA risk assessment on second-hand smoke. In vacating a lower court decision, the 4th Circuit ruled that such risk assessments were not ‘final agency actions’ under the Administration Procedures Act (APA) and therefore not judicially reviewable. ‘This was a complete victory for EPA,’ according to one industry attorney familiar with the issue."
"But other attorneys and regulatory consultants argue that because the DQA defines EPA rulings on petitions as ‘final agency action’ they are judicially reviewable. ‘The 4th Circuit decision has no relevance to data quality petitions,’ according to one attorney with the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness."
"Another legal source says that most cases are decided on the specific facts before a judge. The scholar points to a decision in the D.C. Circuit, Tozzi v. Health and Human Services (HHS), where the court held that an HHS report designating dioxin as a ‘known’ human carcinogen was judicially reviewable as a final agency action."
"I would say about 90 percent of administrative law experts believe the petitions, if denied by EPA and appealed and denied again, would be considered final agency actions the therefore judicially reviewable,’ according to one chemical industry attorney."
Inside EPA, December 30, 2002
NHTSA Early Warning Regulation Conflicts with Data Quality Act, Group Says
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), a pro-business regulatory watchdog group, is asking OMB to set a new condition on the ‘early warning’ rule issued in July under congressional mandate by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. CRE’s comments came during OMB’s 60-day comment period before making a decision on whether to grant NHTSA a ‘control number’ necessary before data collection can begin under the Paperwork Reduction Act."
"CRE did not specifically allege any wrongdoing on the part of NHTSA but rather sought to ensure that the public is informed about how NHTSA will analyze the data it will receive. The CRE maintained that unless the statistical methods NHTSA uses to analyze the early warning data are made public, the administration may be in violation of the Data Quality Act."
Regulation and Law, December 6, 2002
Atrazine Environmental Risk Assessment Challenged by Agricultural Grower Groups
"A key section of an environmental risk assessment for the widely used herbicide atrazine violated the so-called Data Quality Act and must be rewritten because it relied on unvalidated scientific tests, according to a petition filed Nov. 25 with the Environmental Protection Agency."
"The petition, which was filed by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, the Kansas Corn Growers Association, and the Triazine Network, seeks to exclude certain scientific studies from EPA’s risk assessment suggesting that atrazine acts as an endocrine disrupter in the environment"
"The Triazine Network is a coalition of agricultural grower organizations. The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness is a Washington-based organization that does regulatory analyses."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environmental Report, December 5, 2002
Industry Data Quality Petitions Target EPA Chemical Controls
"In its petition, the Kansas Corn Growers Association, along with the Triazine Network and the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, argues that EPA’s environmental risk assessment of the widely used herbicide ‘should be corrected to state that there is no reliable evidence that atrazine causes endocrine effects in the environment.’ But a source with the group says the petition was also filed in an effort to prevent the labeling of chemicals as endocrine disruptors government-wide."
Inside EPA, November 26, 2002
New Guidelines Seek to Limit Industry Data Quality Challenges
"A group that pushed for government-wide data standards is soliciting comment on an ‘interpretive bulletin’ it recently issued to reduce the potential onslaught of lawsuits by companies looking to use the new data quality law. However, a primary critic of the data quality law calls the bulletin ‘disingenuous,’ saying the group issuing it worked hard to ensure that the law gives industry the upper hand against agencies."
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) recently provided the interpretive bulletin as a guide to agencies and regulated industries to help keep agencies from being overburdened with numerous complex information-quality complaints."
Inside EPA, November 22, 2002
New Environmental Paper Offers Broad Defense of Right-To-Know
"CRE last month issued an ‘interpretive bulletin’ designed to decrease that possibility. The bulletin recommends careful consideration of the implications of filing a complicated complaint. If a data correction request is deemed necessary, the bulletin details now it should be framed to obtain the most benefit from the agency’s review, without needing to go to the courts."
Inside EPA, November 8, 2002
Challenges to Information Quality Must Go to Court or Agency, Consultant Says
"Organizations seeking to challenge the quality of federal information should decide if they want to pursue a win-in-court or win-at-the-agency strategy, a regulatory watchdog group advisor said Oct. 17."
"James Tozzi, an advisory board member for the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness and former deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget’s regulatory review office, served on a panel at an American Bar Association meeting that discussed newly established, governmentwide information-quality standards."
"Trade Associations have sought his center’s advice as they consider challenging the quality of federal information, Tozzi told participants at the 2002 Administrative Law Conference."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, October 21, 2002
Undisclosed Report: EPA Knew It Was Toxic
"The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) surprised sludge-watchers in February when it said it would reissue a directive first released in 2000 as a hazard warning (HID 10) for workers who might handle or inhale Class B sludge fertilizers. This occurred under pressure from the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, which heavily lobbied the Office of Management and Budget, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Health and Human Services."
Insight Magazine, October 2, 2002
New Law Means More Federal Rules Can Be Challenged
"The law, which takes full effect with Tuesday’s start of fiscal 2003, will simply stop the ‘junk science’ that can lead to useless and expensive regulations, according to Jim Tozzi, co-founder of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, a group that supports the measure."
"Previously, ‘if you were John Q. Citizen…and you saw components of a study that you thought were inaccurate, you couldn’t do anything,’ he said. ‘Now if you have a good case, you can do something.’"
Cox News Service, September 30, 2002
Industry-Funded Group Proposes Executive Order to Overhaul Regulatory Settlements
"An industry-backed group has drafted an executive order that if adopted by the Bush Administration would overhaul the process for reviewing legal settlements to regulatory disputes. The draft order would dramatically expand the role of industry and the general public in reviewing consent decrees and settlements resolving lawsuits against EPA and other federal agencies, which can often involve revised regulatory policies."
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) sent the draft executive order, along with a letter, on Sept. 4 to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), arguing that settlements negotiated between government agencies and outside groups often affect the general public in ways that government agencies fail to take into account. ‘These judgments and agreements,’ the order says, ‘can result in regulatory action or inaction that substantially affects many people who are not parties in the litigation. Non-parties often have no opportunities to participate in or comment on the consent judgment or settlement agreement even though their rights and duties may be determined by the judgment or settlement.’"
"CRE describes itself as a regulatory watchdog that offers industry groups guidance on navigating the federal regulatory process."
Inside EPA, September 6, 2002
Industry-Backed Group Urges More Input on Regulatory Settlements
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) plans to send a letter to the White House’s Office of Management & Budget next week proposing an executive order requiring that all federal agencies accept public comments on pending consent decrees in which the government is a defendant, sources say. The plan would also require federal agencies to assess the impact of consent decrees on the public, and then seek public comment on that assessment. Consent decrees under the CRE plan would be subject to public review prior to being formally accepted by the courts. CRE describes itself as a regulatory watchdog that offers industry groups guidance in navigating the federal regulatory process."
Inside EPA, August 30, 2002
Data Quality Politics
"If you want a glimpse of the [data quality] guidelines’ future political use, check out the Web site of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (www.thecre.com). Already, the organization has filed notice of its intent to sue the Energy Department for not publishing data quality guidelines."
Federal Computer Week, July 29, 2002
Guest Perspectives: Charting a New Course in Federal Regulation: John Graham’s First Year as OIRA Administrator. (Excerpt from Article by Jim Tozzi)
"In sum, Dr. Graham has demonstrated capable leadership during his first year as head of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He has re-energized and enlarged OIRA’s staff, actively engaged agencies on a variety of rulemaking topics, and coordinated implementation of a new landmark "Good Government" statute – the Data Quality Act. It can only be hoped that OIRA will be able to sustain its present level of energy and achievement for the remainder of Dr. Graham’s term and beyond."
Risk Policy Report, July 23, 2002
DOE’s Proposed Data Quality Guidelines Said to Include Ideas Not in Other Plans
"The Department of Energy is scheduled to publish in the July 22 Federal Register its proposed policies and procedures to implement federal data-quality standards."
"An advisory board member of an organization that threatened in June to sue DOE for failing to publish this document told BNA that the department’s proposal was ‘well worth the wait.’"
"The department’s document has two ideas not found in other agency’s proposals, said Jim Tozzi, who is on the advisory board of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness that threatened to sue DOE for failing to issue proposed data-quality guidelines. Tozzi formerly served as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget’s regulatory review office."
"…No other agency or department has directly linked these two laws, said Tozzi, whose organization is closely monitoring federal data-quality activities."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environmental Report, July 22, 2002
Environmental Quality Council Proposal on Data Quality Spurs Few Public Comments
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, a regulatory watchdog group, included a copy of its legal interpretation of OMB’s standards. This legal memo states, among other points, that compliance with OMB’s standards is required and not discretionary."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, July 22, 2002
Garbage In, Regulation Out: When It Comes to Cooking Books, The Feds Are Gourmets
"Interestingly, something like this might be in store for federal agencies as a result of a little-noticed law, the Federal Data Quality Act, signed by President Clinton on his way out the door. It was drafted by the pro-business Center for Regulatory Effectiveness in Washington, and inserted into the mammoth year-end appropriations bill in late 2000 by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R., Mo.). ‘The White House noticed it and asked some questions about it, but there was so much going on—Florida, the Clinton pardons and the need to get the appropriations done—that it couldn’t be stopped,’ says Jim Tozzi, co-founder of CRE and a long-time staffer at the Office of Management and Budget."
Wall Street Journal, OpinionJournal.com, Editorial by Thomas Bray, July 9, 2002
Regulatory Information Should be Subject to Correction Mechanism, Industry Tells EPA
"William Kelly, of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, seconded the suggestion that EPA apply its own Lessons Learned document."
"Kelly disagreed with several comments EPA made in its draft proposal stating that the application of the guidelines is not mandatory. Kelly cited both the law that spurred OMB’s guidance and a second, related law and said, ‘the agency is required to comply with OMB’s guidelines. It is not discretionary. It’s required by law.’"
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, June 16, 2002
Comment Salvos Exchanged in Data Quality War
"Some of the most extensive sets of comments being submitted to various agencies are, not surprisingly, from the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness. The CRE submitted to all federal agencies a 26 page long set of generic comments covering 16 major points."
"The overarching effect of the CRE comments is clearly to make the data quality guidelines apply to as much as possible and to be as binding as possible. The CRE decried the exemptions of certain types of information and dissemination from the data quality guidelines comments."
OMB Watch, The Watcher, June 10, 2002 Vol. 3 No. 12
Conservatives Seek Formal Withdrawal of EPA Study Citing Global Warming Impacts
"During the waning days of the Clinton administration, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and Reps. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI), along with CEI, filed a lawsuit against the assessment, alleging that the development of the report violated several laws, including the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, an anti-regulatory group, has also petitioned the White House to withdraw the assessment because the group charges it is biased on ‘inadequate and incomplete science.’"
Inside EPA, June 5, 2002
Questions About Online Data
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, a primary backer of the Data Quality Act, has already started requesting changes in government information that is published in print and online."
"This year, the center requested that the United States Global Change Research Program withdraw dissemination of the National Assessment on Climate Change on the basis of ‘numerous data quality and scientific flaws,’ according to the letter posted on the group’s Web site."
"The center also asked the Environmental Protection Agency to modify its
Web site on global warming to reflect the scientific uncertainties about global climate change."
"William Kelly, western representative for the center, said the poor quality of federal data created problems for everyone who sued it, from regulators to consumers."
"’With the blossoming of the Internet, it’s turned into a huge problem for industry,’ Mr. Kelly said. ‘Agencies were encouraged to post virtually everything on the Internet. It wasn’t such a problem when people had to go through a Freedom of Information Act request.’"
New York Times, June 3, 2002
Comments Regarding EPA Draft Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information
"The simple fact that EPA engages in activities that upset powerful industries should not make it a poster child for continual scrutiny and interference with respect to its implementation of the Data Quality Act, as has been threatened by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness ("CRE"), a right-wing think tank spearheaded by Jim Tozzi, a self-proclaimed architect of the Act."
"The Administration will do great damage to its duty to faithfully execute the laws and to the credibility of the Data Quality Act as an expression of public policy if it supports or encourages the activities of Mr. Tozzi and his colleagues, activities that distort the Act and would render it nothing more than a tool to obstruct timely government decision-making."
Natural Resources Defense Council, comments submitted to EPA, May 31, 2002
Background on Data Quality Guidelines
"This rider [Data Quality Act] builds on an industry lobbying effort to put roadblocks in the regulatory process. As noted by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, a strong advocate for the rider, there was similar report language added to the FY 99 Omnibus Appropriations Act, also added at the last second without any debate."
"…CRE and other pro-industry representatives were frustrated that OMB never issued guidelines based on the report language, persuading [Rep. Jo Ann] Emerson to put it into law."
OMB Watch, The Watcher, May 28, 2002 Vol. 3, No.11
OMB Urges Participation in Its Regulatory Reform Efforts (Excerpt from Article by Jim Tozzi)
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) has been concerned about this relative lack of transparency and analytical rigor on the part of the independent agencies, and in its comments to OMB, the Center has urged consideration of its proposal for OMB review of independent agency rules, all under existing legal authority."
"In sum, OMB’s Draft Report on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations represents a significant opportunity for the public to gain the attention of Congress, OMB, and senior Administration and agency officials regarding areas of needed regulatory reform. Interested parties are strongly encouraged to submit their reform recommendations to OMB by the comment deadline of May 28, 2002."
Washington Legal Foundation, Counsel’s Advisory, May 10, 2002, Vol. 10 No. 3
The Data Quality Act: A New Tool For Ensuring Clarity at the Interface of Science and Policymaking (Excerpt from Editorial by Jim Tozzi)
"CRE believes that it is very important that interested parties express their views to the agencies during the public comment period in order to effect a workable, fair, and efficient implementation of the Data Quality Act. How this process is structured may have a significant impact on how scientific information is utilized in the regulatory decision making process. Particularly, attention must be paid to ensuring that the provisions for information quality do not slow down the government’s release of information without justification."
Ogmius Exchange, May 2002
Regulation Writers Uneasy About OMB’s Help
"Early OMB intervention in regulation writing is not new, said Jim Tozzi, who worked in several high-level OIRA positions, including deputy administrator, during the Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations. President Reagan set a precedent for early review of regulations in 1981 when he issued Executive Order 12291 and announced the formation of a task force on regulatory relief, said Tozzi, now on the advisory board of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, an independent analyst of government regulations in Washington."
Federal Times, April 22, 2002
Excerpt from Interview with Data Quality Act Critic Alan Morrison, Founder of the Public Citizen Litigation Group
"My understanding is that Jim Tozzi who is a highly regarded lobbyist for interests that are principally concerned about what’s going on at EPA is at least one of the drafters of this legislation [Data Quality Act]. I think the parentage, assuming that it is Jim Tozzi and his colleagues, gives you a good idea of what the purpose of this law was supposed to be."
National Public Radio, "On the Media", April 20, 2002
EPA Grants Metolachlor Registration to Cedar Chemical
"In a letter to EPA, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) maintains the Data Quality Act required the agency to hold a public comment period before making a decision on registration."
"’EPA’s metolachlor decision process must be objective, transparent, reproducible, and meet stringent new risk-assessment and objectivity standards,’ CRE says in its letter to Stephen Johnson, EPA’s assistant administrator for pesticides. ‘If they do not meet these standards, they will be subject to administration petitions and judicial review under the Data Quality Act.’"
Chemical Market Reporter, April 1, 2002
Plaintiffs Withdraw Lawsuit Against EPA Challenging Draft Cancer Risk Guidelines
"The suit was filed by Diatect International Corp., an Idaho-based corporation that sells insecticide products containing pyrethrins, a botanical extract; Brevet Industries Inc., a California-based company that makes medical products containing polyvinyl chloride, which can generate dioxins when burned; and Jim Tozzi, a former Office of Management and Budget official who is now president of the Washington-based consulting firm Multinational Business Services Inc."
"Tozzi said he dropped the lawsuit because he has personally funded it for two years and could no longer afford to do so."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environmental Report, March 28, 2002
EPA Grants Metolachlor Registration to Cedar Chemical
"After analyzing the public response to its analysis of the issue, CRE concluded ‘that EPA would be setting a significant negative precedent were it to maintain the registration for Metolachlor in light of the Reduced-Risk Pesticide, S-Metolachlor.’"
Landscape Management, March 22, 2002
Industry Supported Center Enters Fray On Metolachlor, Citing Data Quality Concerns
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness said March 20 that the Environmental Protection Agency should not grant registrations for the herbicides metolachlor until the public has a chance to review data relating to the request."
"The center, in a letter to Stephen Johnson, EPA assistant administrator for prevention, pesticides and toxic substances, said the Data Quality Act requires EPA to make its decision on metolachlor ‘objective, transparent, reproducible, and meet stringent new risk assessment and objectivity standards.’"
"Jim Tozzi, a former White House Office of Management and Budget official, supported congressional passage of the Data Quality Act. He is a board member of the center."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Report for Executives, March 22, 2002
EPA Faces Legal Challenges Over ‘Reduced Risk’ Chemical Decision
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), a regulatory reform consulting group, is likely to sue the agency [EPA], challenging whether the decision complies with the Data Quality Act. CRE sent a letter March 20 to Stephen Johnson, the head of EPA’s pesticide office, arguing that EPA must release the data to support Cedar’s claim that the older version is equally effective. A CRE official says there is "a strong possibility" that they will sue the agency if the data is not released, or if the data does not justify the decision. CRE also filed an official request for the information under the Freedom of Information Act."
Chemical Policy Alert.com, March 22, 2002
Tussle Over New Rules on Federal Data
"The [Data Quality] act was first proposed by a group called the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, which acknowledges criticism that the law will delay some important rules."
"’Some of those criticisms are fair,’ said director Jim Tozzi, ‘it is going to have some immediate slow-down effect.’ But long term, he said, the law will benefit everyone by improving the rules we live by."
"Not only will government have to live by the law, he said, but so too will businesses and activists since they’ll have to make sure their data is solid when trying to influence policymaking."
MSNBC, March 21, 2002
Data Access: No Foreseeable Compromise with Industry Groups
"Jim Tozzi representing the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), supporting the Shelby provision, also supports the ‘daughter of Shelby,’ a provision in last year’s appropriations bill that requires OMB to implement procedures for ensuring ‘data quality.’"
Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington Highlights, March 16, 2002
EPA Decision Today Could Muddle Reduced Risk Program
"’It would deliver a serious blow to the Reduced Risk initiative program,’ Jim Tozzi, of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, said of EPA’s possibly allowing the companies to manufacture generic metolachlor. ‘I can’t imagine any company spending money on developing better pesticides after that.’"
Greenwire, March 11, 2002
EPA Rejects Human Studies Data for Perchlorate Risk Assessment
"In response to the assessment, on Feb. 1 the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), a regulatory think tank, released a background paper on perchlorate discussing the fact that EPA, the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, and other federal agencies have been involved in the design and support of several of the human studies and question the EPA’s moratorium on data from human studies. The paper provides a short history of the current EPA moratorium and insists that policy ‘never underwent OMB review pursuant to the Administrative, Procedure Act, and was never sent to Congress under the Congressional Review Act.’"
Risk Policy Report, February 19, 2002
Group Seeks Withdrawal of Climate Study Under New Data Rules
"In a Feb. 11 petition to the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) argues the GHG emissions assessment ‘is based on inadequate and incomplete science and models…has never been subject to adequate peer review …[and] flunked the limited peer review that has occurred.’"
Inside EPA, February 15, 2002
Report to Propose Expanding OMB Review Beyond Environment Rules
"The report, which is due to be issued in early March by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), argues that no new executive orders or statutory changes are necessary for OMB to scrutinize the costs and benefits of rules generated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. Currently, OMB is responsible for approving those commissions’ information requests under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) but does not examine economic rules."
"The report, entitled A Blueprint for OMB of Independent Agency Rules, will outline trends beginning in the Nixon administration and trace how OMB oversight has expanded through the PRA to the new data quality guidelines issued last fall. However, the report says one sector has not been subjected to this oversight – the independent commissions headed by leaders and boards that cannot be unilaterally removed by the President. The report will be addressed to OMB Director Mitch Daniels, but is expected to have a broader impact on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, sources say."
Inside EPA, February 2, 2002
EPA Under Increased Pressure to Release Modeling Data for Highly Anticipated Multi-Pollutant Air Controls
"But the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), a group representing chemical and utility clients, is asking EPA to release the model itself, in addition to the documents relating to the agency’s use of the model."
"The group says in a Jan. 22 letter that new guidelines issued by OMB ensuring a level of transparency in information used by the federal government in developing policy gives new ammunition to the argument that EPA should release the model itself for public review."
"’EPA’s analysis of potential economic impacts will strongly influence EPA’s public policy recommendations,’ says the Jan. 22 CRE letter to EPA Chief Information Officer Kimberly Terese Nelson. Therefore, under the OMB guidelines, ‘EPA’s analytical process must be objective, transparent and reproducible,’ the letter says."
Inside EPA, January 29, 2002
OMB Guidelines on Quality of Information Seen as Having Profound Impact on Agencies
"Essentially, the guidelines define what constitutes arbitrary and capricious behavior with respect to how an agency controls the quality of information, said Jim Tozzi, a lobbyist who helped spur the legislation that ordered OMB to issue the guidelines. Tozzi worked at OMB from 1972 to 1983 and was the first deputy director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which issued the Jan. 3 guidelines."
"The information-quality guidelines accomplish much of the reforms sought through risk-assessment and cost-benefit legislation debated extensively in Congress, but never passed, in the mid 1990s, Tozzi said."
"If information agencies disseminate or use to develop regulations fails to meet OMB’s standards, the agencies can and will be sued, Tozzi said."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, January 14, 2002
OMB Guidelines on Quality of Information Seen as Having Profound Impact on Agencies
"Tozzi agreed that OMB is getting more power than is has had but said he favors that. It is important that there be a centralized office which controls the flow of information into and out of the government, Tozzi said."
"Through the Paperwork Reduction Act, OMB controls the information the regulated community must provide to the government, Tozzi said. Now, through the information-quality guidelines, OMB can control the information disseminated. That creates an essential ‘federal information triangle’ with OMB at its apex, he said."
"In 2002, Tozzi’s organization will be working to extend OMB’s authority further by asking the Bush administration to give OMB oversight over actions by independent agencies such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, he said."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, January 14, 2002
Litigants May File Second Case Under New Data Guidelines
"Plaintiffs in the current lawsuit, Tozzi v. EPA, have been arguing that the classification was largely based on a draft EPA guidance for determining the health risks of cancer-causing agents. The classification in the assessment was not legitimate, plaintiffs argue, because is was a final agency action subject to public review and comment that was based on a draft determination that had never been subject to public scrutiny."
Inside EPA, January 11, 2002
OMB Data-Quality Guidance to Bolster Industry Challenges
"At least one ongoing industry lawsuit against EPA will be greatly affected by the issuance of the guideline, sources say. Regarding the case Tozzi v. EPA, which has attracted widespread attention for challenging EPA’s classification of dioxin as a known human carcinogen in its upcoming health risk assessment, sources say the guidelines present an easier way to show that EPA has not gone through the proper public channels and peer review before upgrading dioxin’s risk classification."
"Industry will be in ‘a lot stronger a position’ to challenge future federal agency rulemakings and other documents in court, the industry official says."
Inside EPA, January 9, 2002
Biting the Data Quality Bullet: Burdens on Federal Data Managers Under New Section 515
"At the Section’s Spring Meeting in Richmond on April 19, a panel of experts hosted by the Government Information & Privacy Committee explored the alternative prospects for ‘data quality’ challenges. Dr. Jim Tozzi, former Deputy Administrator of OMB’s Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and now a Washington consultant, authored the original drafts in 1999, and in 2000 found a welcoming sponsor in House Appropriations member Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. Though critics like OMB Watch offered their alternative terms, the Tozzi proposal was adopted as Section 515 of Public Law 106-554 and the ‘data quality’ process becomes mandatory for all agencies on Oct. 1, 2002."
Administrative and Regulatory Law News, Volume 27, Number 4
Raids on Regulations Expected (Data Quality Act)
"Jim Tozzi, co-founder
of the pro-business Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, and a proponent
of the Act, says the ramifications are broader than he imagined. 'It's
turning out to be a lot more significant than we thought it would be,'
he said. 'It sets standards for which you can now judge whatever the government
issues."
The Wall Street
Journal, July 5, 2002
Web Sites Track Regulatory Changes
"The conservative, business
oriented Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, and its site (thecre.com) analyzes
rules and the process of regulation. It's run by Jim Tozzi, who was a deputy
administrator at the Office of Management and Budget from 1972 to 1983. He's
now a consultant to business on regulatory issues.
"Tozzi said his readers
are executives of Fortune 500 companies and government staffers: 'We want them
to look at our positions to influence what they are working on.'
"During the recent debate over
the ergonomics rule intended to prevent repetitive-stress injuries, Tozzi said,
'people were e-mailing us with questions from the Hill during the vote. We had a
direct impact into the legislative process.'"
The Washington Post, April 24, 2001
Environment, Communications, Information Technology And The Arts References Committee
Commonwealth of Australia, Official Committee Hansard, Senate, Thursday, 16 November 2000
Saccharin Is Removed by Government from List
of Known Human Carcinogens
"In response to the nomination,
regulatory consultant Jim Tozzi and a group of New York restaurant owners filed suit
last year naming the government officials responsible for the report. The plaintiffs
claim the government isn't following its own rules, because the upgrade of dioxin was
based on animal studies, when human data are needed."
The Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2000
Little-Noticed Law Raises Standard for Federal
Rules
"More and more, federal agencies are
setting policy without actually regulating by distributing information via the Internet
that carries the effect of regulation, said Jim Tozzi of the Center for Regulatory
Effectiveness, a watchdog group that lobbied hard for the new law.
"Studies and policy statements posted
on agency websites 'have a lot of impact - they might encourage litigation, they might
encourage local governments to regulate,' Tozzi said."
AP News Wire
U.S. Report to Firmly Link Dioxin With Cancer
"But a group of New York restaurant owners,
lead by business consultant Jim Tozzi, along with a medical device maker, have filed suit in
federal district court claiming the upgrade would cause them economic harm. The restaurant
owners argue that people would stop eating at their restaurants because dioxin is found in
food, while the device maker objects to statements that medical products containing polyvinyl
chloride contribute to environmental dioxin when incinerated as medical waste."
Reuters, May 17, 2000
GOP, Business Rewrite The Regulatory Playbook
"'One of the best ways to get rid of a
regulation is to get a friendly lawsuit,' said Jim Tozzi, deputy administrator of the regulatory
office under Reagan."
CQ Weekly, Special Report: Industry and
Regulation, May 5, 2001
SEA [Senior Executives Association] Awards Presented at
Annual Conference
"Jim Tozzi was presented SEA's
Ted Kearn award on July 7 at a luncheon
at the PDL annual conference in Washington, D.C. This award, named for
SEA's founder and first chair of the Board of Directors, is presented
annually to a member who has made an outstanding contribution to SEA's
mission.
"Mr. Tozzi
is a lifetime member of SEA and has been an ardent supporter
of both SEA and SEA PDL. He has served on the selection committee for
the League's Executive Excellence Awards, has lent his help to attracting
prominent citizens to chair the awards, and assisted in corporate fundraising.
In presenting the award, SEA President Carol Bonosaro said, 'Jim has been
there every time we have asked him for help - and he has been there to
offer help when we haven't.'"
Inside SEA, August/September 1999
McIntosh Proposes New Joint Committee
to Oversee Agency Rulemaking
"Meanwhile,
several former Office of Management & Budget officials
have created a new center to advise Congress on which regulations to review.
The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness is intended to track regulatory
submissions from agencies and highlight for Congress those that are of
particular interest or concern to the regulated community. The center
will be funded through membership of Fortune 500 companies. While the
center will represent industry's views on rules, sources with the center
say it will not be lobbying or engaging in negotiations over rules. 'This
will be a very open and public process,' one center source says.
"The center is
being headed up by Jim Tozzi and Jim MacRae, both
of whom served as directors of OMB's Office of Information & Regulatory
Affairs during the Reagan and Bush administrations."
Inside EPA, May 31, 1996
Real Regulatory Reform
"The Institute
for Regulatory Policy reported last week that the
government's most active regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency,
has largely ignored the order. The institute is financed by trade associations,
which means a lot of activists will try to discredit its work as nothing
more than an apology for greedy businesses. This is a shame, for the work
was directed by Jim Tozzi, a veteran of OMB with long experience in overseeing
regulatory agencies."
Boston Herald, Editorial, May 1, 1995
Where the Rubber Hits the Road: Michelin
Seeks Rule Change to Highlight New Tire
"Jim Tozzi,
director of Multinational Business Services Inc. in
Washington, which represents the companies that oppose Michelin's proposal,
does not accept assertions by Michelin or the NHTSA that the proposed
rule change would simply lead to a change of labels.
"The fuel-efficiency
grade would create market pressures, forcing
other tiremakers to produce the same products, he said."
Washington Post, July 22, 1995
Dole Rules
"An April 1995
study by the Institute for Regulatory Policy found
that executive branch compliance is essentially a joke. Analyst Jim Tozzi
found that of 222 major Environmental Protection Agency rules issued from
April to September of last year, only six had even been judged to have
benefits greater than costs. The rest went ahead anyway.
"Ms. Katzen's
White House regulatory review team also fell down on
the job. Mr. Tozzi found that of 510 regulatory actions published, 465
weren't even reviewed by Ms. Katzen's office under that executive order.
That's more than 90%. Of the 45 rules that were looked at, not one was
returned to the rule-making agency for having failed to meet the cost-benefit
test. In the private sector they fire people for that kind of failed oversight."
The Wall Street Journal, Editorial, June 29, 1995
Budget Bill Provision on Data Accuracy
Could Open Rules to Industry Challenges
"This can be interpreted to allow challenges
to 'any data point,' not just a standard itself, according to James Tozzi, a former OMB official
and head of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness. The guidelines-and the opportunity to
challenge data-could be extended to risk assessments and other estimation tools, Tozzi told
BNA Dec. 28, 2000.
"…Adoption of the appropriations rider
reflects ongoing frustration among various parties over federal data policies, including those
of the Environmental Protection Agency, Tozzi said."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily
Environment Report, January 2, 2001
Review of EPA Policy Sought
"No policy-draft or otherwise-on human
testing has been released by EPA thus far. An industry critic of EPA policy wants an
interagency review of the agency's use of human testing results.
"Jim Tozzi, of the Center for Regulatory
Effectiveness, said there is a draft agency policy on human testing but that is has not been
released. He has asked a subpanel of the interagency National Science and Technology Council
to review EPA's draft human testing policy. The subpanel is known as the Human Subjects
Research Subcommittee.
"Tozzi's center includes industry
participants such as members of the oil, chemical, pesticide, telecommunications, and finance
industries.
"Tozzi told BNA that he sought this
review because Greg Koski, chairman of the subcommittee, is director of the Office for Human
Research Protections in the Department of Health and Human Services. Koski has the perspective
of examining human testing policy across the entire federal government, Tozzi added."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment
Report, January 5, 2001
Verification Rule Could Stifle Information Flow
"'there need to be some standards that must be
met before agencies release information to the public,' said Jim Tozzi, a member of the board of
advisors at the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness in Washington, D.C., a government watchdog group.
"Tozzi's organization was a leading advocate
for the legislation that Congress passed last year as part of the Treasury Department appropriations.
The law requires OMB to spell out how agencies will ensure the 'quality, objectivity, utility and
integrity' of information, including statistical information, they disseminate."
Federal Times, August 20, 2001
Whitman Can Back Out of FQPA Pacts, Observers
Say
"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
Christine Todd Whitman has the authority to back out of agreements reached by the Clinton administration
setting deadlines for certain pesticide reviews, industry and regulatory consulting attorneys say.
'It ain't over until the fat lady sings,' Jim Tozzi, a former White House Office of Management and
Budget official and head of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, says."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment
Report, February 7, 2001
Industry Files Suit to Halt EPA's Dioxin Cancer
Classification
"The industry groups represented in this
case include Brevet, a PVC-plastics manufacturer, Diatect, an Idaho-based producer of the pesticide
known as pyrethrins used in dog flea collars that EPA has characterized as a 'likely' human
carcinogen, and Jim Tozzi, a regulatory consultant."
Inside EPA, November 3, 2000
EPA-NRDC Endocrine Agreement Neglects Welfare,
Commenters Say
"However, the Center for Regulatory
Effectiveness said deadlines in a related Jan. 19 pesticide review decree are earlier than
the dates specified in the endocrine settlement agreement. As a result, CRE said, EPA will
probably use unvalidated tests to comply with pesticide review deadlines. CRE, in Washington,
D.C., has no members, but receives, from time to time, financial support, services in kind,
and work product from trade associations and private firms, according to its Internet site."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, June 11, 2001
Business Lobbyists Asked to Discuss Onerous
Rules
"Jim Tozzi, Kahlow's former boss at
OIRA, said in an interview that he used to do just that, using paperwork technicalities as
an excuse to review otherwise untouchable rules. 'I have to plead guilty to that,' said
Tozzi, who is now on the advisory board at the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness. 'The
paperwork is a way in, you know?'"
The Washington Post, December 4, 2001
Federal Court Affirms HHS Classification of
Dioxin as 'Known' Human Carcinogen
"In a Nov. 23 statement, the industry-supported
Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, on whose board Tozzi serves, said, 'Notwithstanding the court's
deference to an agency's interpretation of its own rules, the opinion sets a major precedent on both
a governmentwide basis and for EPA's upcoming dioxin reassessment in particular.'
"Tozzi added, 'While we are disappointed
with the court's decision on the merits of the case and obviously disagree with it, at the same
time, the court's willingness to decide this issue is important and a significant development.
It sets a very positive precedent for the Data Quality Law.'"
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, November 26, 2001
New Data Quality Law Could Challenge Agency
Assessments
"The NIOSH action, which is driven by
concerns about worker exposure to pathogens in biosolids, is being challenged by the Center
for regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) as an important case example where the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) requirements on data quality should be more carefully applied. 'Case examples
such as the NIOSH [hazardous identification document] HID situation should prove very useful…in
developing the new data quality rules and guidance required….Concerned parties in all sectors of
the business and public interest communities should participate in providing such input to OMB
and the agencies,' according to the March 6, CRE working document."
Inside EPA's Risk Policy Report, March 19, 2001
Ignorance Is Toxic Bliss: The Secret War on
Our Right-To-Know
"The huge, omnibus appropriations bill
that passed Congress last year included a small buy very significant provision. The language,
which has the force of law, requires federal agencies to follow guidelines to be issued by
September 30, 2001 from the Office of Management and Budget on 'the quality, integrity and
objectivity' of information disseminated to the public by federal agencies. Industry
lobbyists such as Jim Tozzi and his Center for Regulatory Effectiveness have sought to
push objectivity as a criteria for agency information products. While the guidelines
have yet to be circulated for public comment, any one-size fits-all guidelines could
hamper EPA's ability [to] fulfill its environmental protection mission. EPA research
into threats to fragile ecosystems and endangered wetlands might be hampered if they
are prevented from conducting research that some may criticize as 'not objective.'"
A report by Clean Water Fund, et al., April 2001
Industry CRE-ates Mischief Against Right To
Know
"Industry lobbyist Jim Tozzi and his
Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, long a thorn in the side of the Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) efforts to inform the public of human health and environmental threats and foes
or the public's right to know, are asking NIOSH to withdraw a notice for the safe handling of
biosolids in agriculture. The March 6 letter also asks the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) to move forward in issue guidelines to agencies on the 'quality, integrity and objectivity'
of information that federal agencies release to the public."
OMBWatcher Online, March 19, 2001
Legal Battle Brews Over Key EPA Pesticide Registration
Decision
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness
has weighed in on the issue as well, finding that 'EPA should deny…pesticide/herbicide applicants
conditional registration when the original has canceled, or has agreed to cancel, the product and
to replace it with an equally effective new product posing less risk. Granting conditional
registration under these circumstances would be inconsistent with…the Agency's goal of reducing
pesticide/herbicide exposure, especially with regard to children.'"
Inside EPA, November 3, 2000
Behind Closed Doors
"In the past year, two lawsuits aimed at
stopping important public health documents from reaching the public were filed. The same man -
James Tozzi - representing two different entities, Multinational Business Services, Inc. (MBS)
and the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), filed both of these lawsuits. Both suits were
aimed at influencing the scientific support for the agency's conclusions that dioxin is likely to
be a human carcinogen and at stalling the report's release to the public.
"James Tozzi has a long history of working
to prevent health measures that would have an economic impact on big business. During the Reagan
administration, Tozzi served in the Office of Management and Budget, where he successfully
spearheaded a campaign to 'gut environmental regulations' (Rampton and Stauber, 2001).
According to the Center for Media and Democracy, Phillip Morris described Multinational
Business Services, Inc. as its 'primary contact on the EPA/ETS risk assessment' on secondhand
cigarette smoke in the early 1990s (Rampton and Stuaber, 2001)."
A Report by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice,
released April 2, 2001
Legal Research Guide: Regulatory Law and Agency
Resources
"…The CRE.com offers an interactive public
docket. Of course, this offers researchers invaluable insight into an organization's stance on an
issue."
The Virtual Case [web site] and Ballard, Spahr,
Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
Suit Challenges Use of Draft Guidelines In Pesticide
Decisions, Dioxin Reassessment
"The suit was filed by Diatect International
Corp., an Idaho-based corporation that sells insecticide products containing pyrethrins, a
botanical extract; Brevet Industries Inc., a California-based company that makes medical
products containing polyvinyl chloride; and Jim Tozzi, a Virginia resident and a former
government official.
"Tozzi told BNA Nov. 3 that he agrees with
scientists who, at the Nov. 1-2 EPA Science Advisory Board critique of the draft dioxin reassessment,
raised the question about what version of the cancer guidelines EPA would use when re-evaluating the
risks of dioxins."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, November 6, 2000
Appeals Court Ruling May Aid Challenge to EPA
Dioxin Review
"The court said the plaintiff had a legal
standing to challenge the listing because HHS' change to the dioxin classification could have an
economic impact on a restaurant owned by the plaintiff. The litigation was filed by Jim Tozzi,
a Washington, DC restaurant owner and the president of Multinational Business Services Inc.,
which represents corporations in regulatory matters.
"Dioxin is a byproduct of charbroiling beef,
and the plaintiff argued that the HHS listing would scare away business.
"But the court ruling could help in pursuing
other legal actions against EPA. 'This will help me get into court and stay in court,' the plaintiff
says, referring to a pending case against the agency's dioxin reassessment. That case, Tozzi v. EPA,
has been put on hold until the reassessment is released and undergoes in interagency review."
Inside EPA, November 30, 2001
Pyrethrin Cancer Classification Case Pending
as Reassessment Continues
"The lawsuit, filed by manufacturers and
consultant Jim J. Tozzi, of Multinational Legal Services, pertains to a cancer classification of
the Pyrethrins, consumer products widely used in residential and indoor settings.
"At the center of the pesticide dispute is an
EPA Office of Pesticide Programs Cancer Assessment Review Committee (CARC) classification of the
pyrethrins as 'likely' to cause cancer in humans by oral exposure…"
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environmental Report, April 2, 2001
Former Waynesburg Resident, Now a Washington
Businessman, Talks about the Attack on America
"After serving with the Department of Defense
at the Pentagon from 1964-72 and then at the White House from 1972-1983, Tozzi's opinions certainly
have merit. Now as the owner of Multinational Business Services in D.C., he has kept in touch
with friends and acquaintances at both the Pentagon and the World Trade Center."
The Press News, September 20, 2001
Federal Court Set to Hear Arguments About Whether
EPA Can Release TRI Data
"Jim Tozzi, president of the consulting firm
Multinational Business Services Inc., based in Washington, sued EPA and the White House Office of
Management and Budget seeking withdrawal of the October 1999 final rule adding dioxins to TRI
(Tozzi v. Browner, D.D.C., CV-00-00173).
"the complaint, filed Feb. 1, 2000, in
the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claimed, among other things, that the
information collection request EPA sent to OMB for approval was 'incomplete' because it did
not specify how releases would be calculated for dioxin and dioxin-like compounds (26 DEN A-7, 2/8/00)."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, June 26, 2001
Injunction Sought on NTP Dioxin Listing, Appeal
of Court Ruling Planned, Tozzi Says
"Jim Tozzi, a lobbyist and former White House
Office of Management and Budget official, told BNA Oct. 26 that his coalition will pursue an
injunction in the appeals court, if the district court declines to issue one. Tozzi noted that
the appeal had not been filed yet in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia but
should be shortly.
"Tozzi said the district court's ruling
that Brevet has standing to sue is significant. This ruling should clear the way for other
individuals and companies to challenge other federal agencies' health risk assessment, he said.
The Environmental Protection Agency's nearly complete dioxin health risk assessment may be ripe
for a similar legal challenge, he said. Tozzi declined to state whether he plans to challenge
the EPA dioxin document."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, October 27, 2000
EPA Can Release TRI Reports, Federal District
Court Rules in Lawsuit
"Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District
Court for the District of Columbia rejected a request from an industry consultant for an
injunction to restrain EPA from releasing the reports from the Toxics Release Inventory,
which companies were due to file with the agency by July 1.
"The consultant, Jim Tozzi, president of
the Washington-based consulting firm Multinational Business Services, Inc., had asked the court
to prohibit EPA from releasing the dioxin data until the court had ruled on a lawsuit he had filed
seeking to strike down a 1999 EPA rule that subjected dioxins to TRI reporting.
"The February 2000 lawsuit alleged that EPA
had violated certain requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act and the Emergency Planning and
Community Right-To-Know-Act, which requires industry to report to the TRI (26 DEN A-7, 2/8/00)."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, June 26, 2001
EPA Faces Scaled Back Judicial Deference for
Regulatory Reviews
"In one of those cases, Jim Tozzi, et al. v.
EPA et al., a federal district court in Washington D.C. June 29 dismissed an industry effort to
block an EPA rule tightening dioxin emissions reporting standards, in part because the court found
that the agency should be granted deference under the old standard."
Inside EPA, July 20, 2001
District Court Delays Oral Arguments Due to
Change in Dioxin Review Schedule
"Charles Fromm, an attorney with Multinational
Legal Services, which is representing the plaintiffs, told BNA it was important to delay the oral
arguments so that EPA and plaintiffs would have a better sense of how the agency would proceed on
the dioxin reassessment. That agency decision should be affected by the SAB report, he said.
"The litigation is being brought by Jim Tozzi,
a lobbyist and former White House Office of Management and Budget official; a manufacturer of
pyrethrin-based pesticide products; and a company that manufactures medical devices that contain PVC.
"The plaintiffs assert that EPA's use of its
draft cancer risk assessment guidelines violates the Administrative Procedure Act."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, April 18, 2001
U.S. Supreme Court Reviews Law Determining Deference
Owed To Federal Agencies
"How this opinion affects future rulings by
courts remains to be seen. However, already there are some reports that this opinion amounts to a
'significant narrowing' of the judicial deference doctrine that will make it harder for EPA to
defend its decisions in the future. Such reports, however, may be hasty. For example, in the
few cases that have come down post-Mead such a 'significant narrowing' hasn't played itself out.
In Tozzi v. EPA, for example, where the question of whether EPA was owed deference when it made a
decision not to employ certain methodology when establishing toxicity levels for dioxin, the Federal
District Court for the District of Columbia held that even if the decision didn't clearly warrant
Chevron deference, 'the Mead Court's revival of the Skidmore doctrine defers to agency
interpretations based on even ambiguous delegations of authority.'"
Equipment Manufacturers Institute web site (www.emi.org/public_policy),
August 29, 2001
Experts Debate Public Access to Regulatory Science
Through FOIA
"Jim Tozzi of the Center for Regulatory
Effectiveness noted that the history of OMB-related legislation such as the Paperwork Reduction,
Data Access and Small Business changes, basically describes his resume over the last decade.
'This is what I'll call 'good government' and David Hawkins would call 'no government.'" EPA
and other agencies have found ways to regulate through appropriations bills, litigation and
information release, not through the Federal Register, Tozzi noted….Tozzi emphasized that the
recently passed Data Quality bill requires OMB to set a minimum threshold for data dissemination
on the Internet. In addition to a quality filter, it also requires a petition process for people
to submit corrections for inaccurate data."
Risk Policy Report, March 19, 2001
Coalition Battles Dioxin Carcinogen Label
"Lobbyist Jim Tozzi, who brought the suit,
said the NTP does not have enough evidence from studies with humans, as its own criteria require.
Tozzi is president of [the] consulting firm Multinational Business Services Inc., in Washington,
a board member of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, and a former official in the Office of
Management and Budget…
"Tozzi was critical of the plastics industry
for not participating in any of the three dioxin-related legal battles he is waging.
"'I don't know why they are sitting on their
ass,' Tozzi said. 'they are not contributing one penny.'
"Allen Blakey, spokesman for the Vinyl Institute
in Arlington, Va., said VT staff met with Tozzi and talked about ways to work together. The lawsuit
was mentioned, but 'we don't remember there being any specific request for us to support it,' Blakey
said…
"Tozzi, who has brought several dioxin-related
suits, said he may have to drop one or more of them unless other parties join the suit, or the CRE gets
more financial support.
"Brewer said Brevet is not contributing any
money to the suit, and said Tozzi approached him about joining the legal challenge."
Plastics News, January 26, 2001
Industry Seeks to Stall EPA's Dioxin Reassessment : Washington
(Business & Finance Week, Nov 8, 2000 )
Court Affirms Report Tightening Dioxin Risk
Classification
"At issue in the case, Jim Tozzi, et al, v.
Department of Health and Human Services, is the 9th Report on Carcinogens (RoC), a congressionally
mandated annual report listing known or reasonably anticipated human carcinogens. The report is
compiled by several environmental health agencies, including the National Institute for Environmental
Health Sciences (NIEHS), the Environmental Toxicology Program (NTP) and the Department of Health &
Human Services (HHS)."
Inside EPA, October 13, 2000
Industry Group Questioning Consistency In Human
Testing Policy Following Survey
"A Regulatory watchdog group is questioning the
consistency of the Environmental Protection Agency's use of human data in light of an interim policy on
pesticide testing, a former White House office of Management and Budget official told BNA Aug. 16.
"The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness
collected information from the agency, and found 'widespread use' of human studies throughout the
agency, Jim Tozzi, a member of the center's board, told BNA Aug. 16.
"The center is still reviewing the information,
but questions the 'arbitrary' nature of an interim policy prohibiting the use of certain pesticide data
in regulatory decisionmaking in light of the use of human data throughout the agency, Tozzi said.
"The center conducted an extensive survey
'throughout EPA,' including in the air, water, and research offices, and documented the 'widespread
use' of human studies in the agency, Tozzi said.
"Tozzi's center includes industry 'participants'
such as members of the oil, chemical, pesticide, telecommunications, and finance industries."
Bureau of National Affairs, August, 17, 2000
FDA, EPA, USDA Ask National Academy of Sciences
to Referee Dioxin Debate
"Industry officials are warning the EPA
has an aggressive dioxin game plan. Jim Tozzi of Multinational Business Services says that 'armed
with the 'known' classification' the agency will be in the 'driver's seat and plans to make the
food divisions of FDA and USDA operating subsidiaries of EPA.' According to Tozzi, the agency's
control strategy for dioxin involve targeting environmental emitters near food sources where
cattle graze or people fish, for example, and also involves invoking the regulatory authorities
of the food agencies."
FDA Week, August 4, 2000
EPA Will Move Ahead with Strict Dioxin Cancer
Classification
"According to Jim Tozzi of Multinational Business
Services, 'I think the basic issue is what set of guidelines you're going to use. Even the panel said
they were not sure whether they were using the classification scheme from the 1996, or 1999 guidelines.
The only people who can force EPA not to use the draft guidelines are the courts.'"
Inside EPA, July 28, 2000
Group Asks White House Ethics Panel To Review
EPA Policy on Human Data
"A regulatory watchdog group asked a federal
advisory panel July 10 to closely review the Environmental Protection Agency's policy not to use
human clinical data for regulatory decisions concerning pesticides.
"James Tozzi, director of the Center for
Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), asked the White House National Bioethics Advisory Commission to
review EPA's human data policy as part of a report the commission is preparing on federal
implementation of a law known as the 'common rule.'
"CRE tracks the scientific and policy
basis of federal regulations. Oil, chemical, and telecommunications companies are among the
types of businesses that pay for center services, Tozzi told the commission."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, July 11, 2000
Chemical Reaction
"Such uncertainties are part of the reason
why people like the plaintiffs in the NTP lawsuit are up in arms. Jim Tozzi, a local businessman
(he's an investor in BeDuCi) who sits on the board of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, is
responsible for organizing the plaintiffs in the case, a group that includes the Empire State
Restaurant and Tavern Association and a California company that deals in a kind of nonrecyclable
plastic that, through its production and disposal, causes dioxin to be released into the environment.
Tozzi argues against NTP's 'known human carcinogen' classification on technical grounds, saying that
there isn't enough scientific evidence to support such a claim."
The Washington City Paper, Vol. 20, No. 26. June 30-July 6, 2000
Atrazine Not a Likely Human Carcinogen, SAP
Say, Rejecting EPA Preliminary Finding
"In a June 27 public comment session, Jim Tozzi,
of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, said SAP was established to review scientific matters but
that EPA asked the panel to reexamine atrazine's cancer classification that is based on agency policy.
"Under agency policy, if there is any indication
of potential carcinogenicity of a chemical that cannot be disproved, the chemical should be described as
a likely human carcinogen, Tozzi said.
"In a June 15 letter to Clarence Hardy, director
of EPA's Office of Cooperative Environmental Management in the Office of the Administrator, Tozzi said
the cancer guidelines meet the definition of a rule under the Administrative Procedure Act, are not yet
final, and cannot be the basis for an SAP review.
"Tozzi is a former deputy administrator of the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
"In his June 15 letter to EPA, Tozzi said the
agency's request to 'upgrade' atrazine's cancer classification is based primarily on policy
considerations, not scientific evidence."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, June 30, 2000
Risk Communication Problems From HHS Listing
Would Harm Business
"In the latest development in Tozzi, et al. v.
Department of Health and Human Services, a lawyer for the businesses argued in court that release of
the upgraded dioxin listing would harm his clients' businesses financially as there would be a loss of
business, sales, and reputation damage due to potential negative publicity surrounding the new listing….
"Attorney Charles Fromm, who represents six
plaintiffs including restauranteurs and plastic manufacturers, argued that publicity surrounding
details of EPA's recent draft assessment of dioxin linking exposure to cancer in humans, in addition
to HHS' attempt to do the same in the latest RoC, would result 'in a loss of business, lost sales,
and a damage to the reputation' of his clients."
Risk Policy Report, June 19, 2000
Judge to Prevent NTP From Issuing Report With
Dioxin Listing, Even if It Wins Lawsuit
"Several businesses, including restaurants
and a medical device maker, as well as former White House Office of Management and Budget official
Jim Tozzi filed the suit in late 1999, saying they would suffer economic harm from a food scare and
loss of business in a specialized plastic used in a medial device if the NTP report is published as
expected (19 DEN A-2, 1/28/00)."
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, June 15, 2000
Dioxin Debate Growing Hotter
"On the other side, Jim Tozzi, an activist
representing industry groups, is suing Bucher's agency, saying it hasn't sufficient evidence to
link dioxin to health problems."
The Seattle Times, May 29, 2000
Court Seals HHS Carcinogen Report Dioxin Listing
"In Tozzi, et al. v. Department of Health and
Human Services, the plaintiffs, two restaurants, a restaurant association and a medical device
manufacturer, sued because NTP based its known human carcinogen listing for dioxin on animal,
mechanistic and in vitro data when 1996 NTP criteria state that there must be 'sufficient evidence
in humans' in order for a 'known' human carcinogen listing to be appropriate."
Risk Policy Report, May 15, 2000
HHS Set to Publish Ninth Cancer Report May 15
Unless Federal Court Blocks Action
"Three restaurants, a medical device
manufacturer, and former White House Office of Management and Budget official Jim Tozzi are
suing HHS alleging the process the National Toxicology Program used to assess TCDD was 'flawed.'"
Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Environment Report, April 21, 2000
In the News
"A Feb. 17 letter
to the Acting Director of EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs, Stephen
Johnson, from Multinational Business Services emphasizes the importance
of using weight-of-the-evidence and urges the agency to take exposure
data into account when applying additional uncertainty factors. 'When
children are never exposed to a pesticide, they face no risk,' according
to the letter."
Risk Policy Report,
March 20, 1998
Former OMB Official
Drops Suit on Sector Project, Opts Instead For Legislation
"Former White
House official Jim Tozzi has set aside his lawsuit against EPA's controversial
Sector Facility Indexing Project and plans to instead lobby for new legislation
that would prevent federal agencies from using information in ways that
are not explicitly approved by the Office of Management and Budget.
"Tozzi, director
of Multinational Business Services, Inc., has forwarded several Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA) amendments to congressional staff that would ensure
that OMB reviews and approves any new uses of information collected from
the public, and give citizens a new avenue to challenge agency actions
under the PRA.
"Tozzi attempted
earlier this year to derail EPA's Sector Facility Indexing Project (SFIP),
a controversial public database that offers detailed information on the
compliance histories and emissions of facilities within five major industry
sectors. In both his motion for a preliminary injunction and his suit
to block the entire project, Tozzi argued that the agency had subverted
the PRA by using information collected from the public for a purpose that
was not first approved by OMB."
Inside EPA, July 17,
1998
Former OMB Official
Files First Lawsuit Against EPA 'Sector Indexing' Plan
"A former high-ranking
administration official has filed the first legal challenge to EPA's controversial
Sector Facility Indexing Project, charging that the agency violated federal
law by pursuing the project without proper authorization from the Office
of Management and Budget or public review or comment.
"While the plaintiff,
former White house Office of Management & Budget official Jim Tozzi,
filed the suit on behalf of himself, industry sources say that other industry
parties and possibly state officials may join in the challenge.
"Tozzi filed
a motion for preliminary injunction last week in the U.S. District Court
for the District of Columbia seeking to block EPA from implementing the
Sector Facility Indexing Project (SFIP) during the course of his lawsuit,
Jim Tozzi v. EPA
.
"Tozzi charges
in his lawsuit that EPA has violated the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)
of 1995 by using information gathered under the agency's Toxics Release
Inventory for entirely different purposes under the SFIP without Office
of Management & Budget approval or opportunity for public comment."
Inside EPA, January
30, 1998
Congress: Fewer
Forms or Budgets Will Suffer
"James Tozzi,
former deputy administrator of OIRA, said administrations always blame
the bloat on Congress. But that raises the question of whether the agencies
have figured out the most efficient, simplest way to collect the data
required by laws, Tozzi said."
The Washington Post,
August 14, 1998
'Interim Guidance'
on Safety Margin For Children Sought by Industry Consultant
"The Environmental
Protection Agency should issue 'interim guidance' on how the agency will
apply the Food Quality Protection Act's safety margin for children in
pesticide decisions, a regulatory consultant said in a letter to EPA
.
"The spinosad
decisions 'provide excellent concrete examples of the agency's practical
implementation' of the safety margin, Jim Tozzi, director of Multinational
Business Services Inc., said in the letter to Lynn Goldman, EPA assistant
administrator for prevention, pesticides, and toxic substances. Multinational,
based in Washington, has clients in the pesticide industry."
Bureau of National
Affairs, Daily Environment Report, September 30, 1998
Conference Addresses
Impacts of Data Access, Integrity Provisions
"At a Dec. 8
session of a conference entitled Improving Clinical Databases for Health
Policy Development, Eric Stas of Multinational Business Services, one
of the conference's sponsors-noted that the Act's provisions could represent
a significant change in the way health data is collected and managed in
this country. The provisions will allow the interested public-including
stakeholders-to review the raw data underlying federally-funded studies-which
is a major change in current policy, Stas noted."
Risk Policy Report,
December 18, 1998
Study on EPA's
Climate Change Website Forms Case Study for Data Debate
"A new industry
report on EPA's climate website is designed to 'tee up' debate over Office
of Management & Budget (OMB) efforts to define data quality under
federal law. OMB's definition will set the standards for citizens and
organizations to legally challenge EPA and other federal agencies to force
the agencies to change allegedly slanted information they provide to the
public.
"In the Center
for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) report, How OMB Data Quality Regulations
Will Help Resolve Disputes over Global Warming, the group examines EPA's
climate website as a case study on the current poor 'quality' of the data
presented by federal agencies
.
"Sources say CRE hopes to open debate and push OMB in making its
definition
.
"CRE studies
the global warming site on EPA's website and found in its report that
EPA did a 'very poor job' of disseminating the information. The report
cites specific examples the organization found where EPA chose words or
phrases to convey the severity of the problem, and said as 'fact' that
humans were to blame for global warming. Furthermore, according to a copy
of the report and sources familiar with it, EPA 'buries' information contradicting
its opinion on global warming in obscure links and on the 'wrong' pages."
Inside EPA, May 7,
1999
HHS Sued for Recommending
Dioxin as 'Known' Carcinogen
"The case, Tozzi
v. Shalala, was filed on May 14 in D.C. District Court. Oral arguments
are slated to begin this month. Tozzi, President of Multinational Business
Services, Inc. (MBS), is a co-plaintiff with Empire State Restaurant &
Tavern Association, Inc., Greenbaum and Gilhooley's, and BeDuCi. NTP Director
Kenneth Olden and Environmental Toxicology Director George Lucier are
named as defendants, along with HHS Secretary Donna Shalala."
Risk Policy Report,
November 19, 1999
Industry Group
Urging EPA to Open Up Science Advisory Process
"In its Dec.
30 comments, Multinational Business Services, Inc. (MBS) says that EPA
should take three significant steps in developing the new policy.
"First, MBS argues
for greater public participation in shaping the 'charges' given to the
agency's independent Science Advisory Board (SAB)
"Secondly, MBA argues that for 'significant risk assessments' such
as for radon, chloroform and dioxins, EPA should separate the risk characterization
from the risk assessment and solicit comment on the risk characterization
as a distinct item
"Finally, the
group calls on EPA to allow stakeholders to comment on draft risk assessment
prior to review by the SAB-advocating a process similar to one used for
the dioxin risk assessment."
Inside EPA, January
7, 2000
Potential Food
Scare, Loss of PVC Business Prompt Industry Effort to Block NTP Report
"The challenge
to the development of the ninth report was filed by industry and one businessman-former
White House Office of Management and Budget official Jim Tozzi-in 1999
.
"The briefs in
the suit were obtained through the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness'
World Wide Web page. CRE is a private clearinghouse established in 1996
after passage of the Congressional Review Act, a statute that gives Congress
the opportunity to review agency regulations. Tozzi serves on the advisory
board of CRE."
Bureau of National
Affairs, January 28, 2000
Cancer Guideline
Panel Applauds Revisions, Divided Over Hazard Terms
"Jim Tozzi of
Multinational Business Services also expressed strong concerns with the
various types of evidence which may qualify a compound as a 'known' carcinogen
without direct human evidence."
Risk Policy Report,
January 22, 1999
Industry Officials
Fault Proposed Criteria for Classifying 'Known' Human Carcinogens
"Jim Tozzi, director
of Multinational Business Services Inc., of Washington, D.C., which has
clients in manufacturing industries such as the auto and oil industries,
said EPA's classification scheme should not allow a substance to be designated
a known human carcinogen based on animal data."
Bureau of National
Affairs, Daily Environment Report, January 21, 1999
Lawsuit Challenges
Feds' Right to Put Data on Web
"In a case that
could challenge the authority of federal agencies to publish data on the
World Wide Web, a former top reviewer of federal regulations has sued
the Environmental Protection Agency over its plans to enhance one of its
most popular databases on the Internet.
"Jim Tozzi, a
former Office of Management and Budget top official whose Washington,
D.C. consulting firm, Multinational Business Services Inc., lobbies on
regulatory issues on behalf of multinational corporations, has charged
that an EPA plan to present risk-assessment data as part of its Toxics
Release Inventory (TRI) database violates the Paperwork Reduction Act
because it will use TRI data for a different purpose than that for which
it was originally collected."
Federal Computer Week,
February 16, 1998
Advisers Raise
Concerns About EPA Plan to Guarantee Loans in Former Soviet Union
"Another board
member, Jim Tozzi, director of the Washington, D.C. consulting firm Multinational
Business Services Inc., said EPA will have to explain how appropriations
for the fund would fit into spending caps under the balanced budget law.
Tozzi was an official at the Office of Management and Budget during the
Reagan administration.
"Tozzi said EPA
must explain better to the public and to Congress the environmental and
financial problems the Partnership Fund would help address. The agency
also needs to spell out the U.S. national interest in creating a loan
guarantee program for the former Soviet Union, he said.
"In addition,
EPA should determine the limits on U.S. economic and political liability
for the funds, Tozzi said."
Bureau of National
Affairs, Daily Environment Report, May 6, 1998
EPA's Controversial
Sector Facility Indexing Project Goes Public
"The toxicity
weighting factors were at the center of a lawsuit brought in January in
U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia (Tozzi v. EPA, No. 1:98CV00169).
The plaintiff, Jim J. Tozzi, president of a Washington, D.C. consulting
firm, Multinational Business Services, sought to bar EPA from implementing
SFIP until the project had undergone formal review by the Office of Management
and Budget, as required under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Tozzi contended
that EPA would be 'modifying, manipulating and transforming' existing
data to create the toxicity weighting factors, hence creating new data
for a new purpose that would not be subject to public approval. He also
raised similar objections to the treatment of enforcement and compliance
data.
"EPA announced
March 4, in a separate move, that it had decided to temporarily remove
the toxicity weighting factors from the SFIP database, while reserving
the right to add them at a later date. The U.S. Department of Justice,
on behalf of the agency, filed a motion April 1 to dismiss the case.
"Tozzi's attorney, Charles Fromm, said that although the primary
issue in the case-inclusion of the toxicity weighting factors-was no longer
in contention, his client did not want to drop the matter entirely because
of the likelihood that EPA will seek to reintroduce them. Fromm said he
filed an administrative stay April 27, asking the court to suspend the
case on its calendar."
Right-To-Know News,
May 22, 1998
EPA 'Sector Indexing'
Plan Drops Toxicity Weighting
"On March 12,
the agency received a go-ahead on the SFIP from a federal court in a lawsuit,
Tozzi v. EPA, in which former Office of Management & Budget official
Jim Tozzi challenged EPA on the grounds that it had violated the Paperwork
Reduction Act by proposing to use Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data
for the SFIP. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia's ruling
frees EPA to release the SFIP. The plaintiffs, including Tozzi and the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are now deciding whether to pursue their lawsuit
further."
Risk Policy Report,
March 20, 1998
EPA Database Can
Go Forward, Judge Says; Plaintiffs Had Sought Temporary Delay
"A lawsuit filed
Jan. 23 by Washington consultant Jim Tozzi seeks to delay release of the
facility-by-facility environmental data until the public had officially
commented on the project. He said a proposal-and-comment process under
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 should be required because EPA would
substantially change environmental data slated for the World Wide Web.
Tozzi also is seeking to put the database through official review at the
White House Office of Management and Budget, as required by the 1995 law.
"The Chamber
of Commerce, which counts as members many of the facilities that will
be profiled on the database, joined Tozzi's lawsuit March 2, when the
two plaintiffs filed an amended complaint against EPA."
Bureau of National
Affairs, Chemical Regulatory Reporter, March 13, 1998
Lawsuit Seeks Delay
of EPA Database That Would Put Modified TRI Data on Web
"A lawsuit filed
Jan. 23 seeks to delay release of a database that would make modified
Toxic Release Inventory data available on the Internet (Tozzi v. EPA,
DC DC, No. 1:98CV00169, 1/23/98)
.
"Jim J. Tozzi,
Director of the consulting firm Multinational Business Services, is seeking
a preliminary injunction to keep the database from going on line 'in the
next few weeks.' An EPA official told BNA Jan. 6 that the frequently postponed
database was slated for release in 'early 1998' (4 DEN A-6, 1/7/97).
"Tozzi told BNA
Jan. 29 that he objects to EPA using the Internet 'as a back door Federal
Register.' In the past, EPA has said it simply is using the database to
make already available information more easily accessible. But to Tozzi,
the public interprets information on the Internet differently than it
interprets information in a filing cabinet, he said. Of the Internet,
Tozzi said, 'People push a button and they think it's official government
policy.'
"The lawsuit
'is the first big case on what we think is the use of the Internet as
a back door Federal Register,' he said.
"Tozzi is the
only plaintiff in the suit. He served as an OMB official from 1972 to
1983, including a stint as deputy OMB administrator. Since 1983 he has
been director of Multinational Business Services Inc."
Bureau of National
Affairs, Daily Environment Report, January 30, 1998
E.P.A. Is Pressing
Plan To Publicize Pollution Data
"While they try
to persuade the agency to delay the release of the data, industry groups
have quietly petitioned the White House to intervene. 'This plane is not
ready for its maiden flight yet,' said Jim J. Tozzi, director of Multinational
Business Services, the lobbyist who filed the petition at the White House
Office of Management and Budget. 'It needs more work in the hangar."
New York Times, August
12, 1997
Switching Off Air
Bags May Mean More Deaths
"Four hundred
more people could die every year in traffic accidents if the government
gives consumers the option of deactivating their air bags, according to
a study for the largest maker of the safety devices
.
"'We think 400 is probably low; we think it is going to be more,'
said Jim Tozzi, director of Multinational Business Services Inc., a consulting
firm hired by TRW to crunch the numbers. 'We took the absolute most conservative
assumptions.'"
Detroit News, July
23, 1997
Business Group
Says Dioxin Finding Could Hurt IARC's Credibility
"In February,
an IARC workgroup concluded that 2,3,7,8-TCDD, the most potent form of
dioxin, is a 'known' human carcinogen, an upgrade from IARC's 'possible'
classification (Risk Policy Report, Feb. 21, p6). Multinational Business
Services, Inc. (MBS), which describes itself as 'regulatory and trade
counselors,' in a May 16 report sent to IARC Director Paul Kleihues argues
that IARC's dioxin monograph, 'if not challenged, could establish a number
of precedents regarding scientific evaluation of the potential carcinogenicity
of receptor-mediated agents and exposures with extremely wide-ranging
impacts.' Should that happen, IARC's monograph 'may result in questions
being raised concerning the credibility of IARC monographs,' according
to MBS Director Jim Tozzi's letter to Kleihues."
Risk Policy Report,
June 20, 1997
Industry Report
Blasts International Panel's Findings on Dioxin
"A new report
from Multinational Business Services (MBS) calls for IARC to not release
its own findings until a November 1997 IARC conference further evaluates
the mechanisms by which dioxin is believed to cause cancer. MBS finds
three central problems with the agency's decision to upgrade dioxin's
cancer classification. First, IARC's decision was based largely on data
showing a 'common mechanism' for dioxin that caused cancer throughout
a range of animal species, which IARC says is enough to assume that dioxin
causes cancer in humans as well as animals. MBS contrasts this with the
panel's finding that there was 'limited' epidemiologic data showing an
actual link between human dioxin exposure and rates of cancer. MBS says,
'in essence
data on mechanism of action were used to compensate for
limited epidemiologic data.' MBS notes that this is only the second time
that an IARC report upgraded the carcinogenicity of a chemical based on
'common mechanism' data alone.
"The report also
notes that the five U.S. IARC participants were from government agencies,
and that these scientists are involved to some degree in the regulation
of dioxin. MBS says, 'the presence of so many U.S. government scientists
on the Working Group, particularly ones with such substantial involvement
in government risk assessment activities with regulatory implications,
could raise questions as to whether the working group evaluation was truly
'unbiased' and whether the scientists were truly representing solely individual
scientific viewpoints uninfluenced by their government positions.'"
Inside EPA, June 6,
1997
TRI III Reports
on Chemical Usage; Said to Contravene Paperwork and Unfunded Mandates
Acts
"An analysis
by Multinational Business Services of EPA's advance notice on adding chemical
use reporting to TRI said the measure would contravene both the Paperwork
Reduction and Unfounded Mandates Acts, as well as the 'government reinvention'
statements of President Clinton.
"Writing for
the consulting group, former Office of Management and Budget official
Jim Tozzi called on EPA 'to demonstrate its leadership by setting an example
of how a regulatory agency can comply with both the letter and spirit
of two new 'good government' laws
.'
.
"Enclosing a
19-page analysis, Tozzi said: 'We note that TRI Phase III, as presently
conceived, could impose what might be considered as the most substantial
new recordkeeping and reporting requirements regulation proposed by an
agency since the 1995 Paperwork Reduction and Unfunded Mandates Reform
Acts were enacted."
Pesticide & Toxic
Chemical News, February 19, 1997
Mom and Pop Get
Even
"In the meantime,
conservative private sector groups have been volunteering to help fill
the void. Two former career OIRA officials, Jim J. Tozzi and James B.
MacRae, have launched the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness to counsel
Congress on how to use the law and to make sure that new regulations comply
with laws already on the books
.
"Their center is an offshoot of Tozzi's lobbying firm, Multinational
Business Services Inc., and is located at the same address. In an interview,
Tozzi said that the center has separate financing and staff but that some
of his lobbying clients also contribute to the center. Among the financial
supporters, he said, are Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which is also
a client; FMC Corp., whose products include agriculture and industrial
chemicals; some pharmaceutical companies and other corporations; and trade
associations
."
National Journal,
March 8, 1997
OMB Would Have
to Report to Congress on Rules' Costs, Benefits, Senate Bill Says
"James Tozzi,
a former OMB official who now follows public policy issues for the non-profit
Federal Focus Inc., praised the idea in the group's newsletter.
"'Regulatory accounting, an idea which was raised by OMB many years
ago, makes good economic and public policy sense,' Tozzi wrote. 'Just
as consumer disclosure laws allow consumers to make informed decisions
about their personal finances, this amendment provides the public with
information needed to reach informed conclusions about Federal regulations."
Daily Environment
Reporter, July 30, 1996
Newt's Cash Machine
"Supportive research
for the G.O.P. revolution is provided by the Progress and Freedom Foundation,
the think tank through which the Speaker's college course was funded.
Though Gingrich is no longer connected formally with the foundation, his
sympathetic attention to what it produced is enough to bring to support
from people who see it as an indirect route to the Speaker's ear. 'Of
all the think tanks, that's one whose reports are not just going to sit
on the shelf,' says lobbyist Jim Tozzi, whose firm has helped tobacco
and chemical firms fight government regulations. 'If I give somebody money,
I want to make sure the report will be read. If I give to that group,
I know it will be.'"
Time Magazine, December
18, 1995
Bill May Halt Issuing of New Tire Grading
"Multinational
Business Services Inc., a Washington consulting firm, led the opposition
to the rolling resistance grade.
"'This idea was
not initiated by Congress, but just came from the Global Climate Action
Plan without any debate,' said Multinational Business President Jim J.
Tozzi.
"For Congress
to block the rolling resistance grade was 'only the natural thing to do,'
according to Tozzi."
Rubber and Plastics
News II, October 30, 1995
Tire Makers Trade
Jabs on Rolling Resistance
"Lined up against
Michelin and the rolling resistance grade was virtually every other North
American tire manufacturer, representatives of the private brand tire
industry, consultants Jim Tozzi of Multinational Business Services Inc.
and Harold Herzlich of Herzlich Consulting Inc., and Rep. Tom Sawyer,
D-Ohio."
Rubber and Plastics
News II, August 7, 1995
Some Scattering
Tacks in Path on Tire-grading Plan
"Jim Tozzi, tire
industry consultant, also sought to scatter tacks in the path of the labeling
proposal. He contended there is no public need for the labels, questioned
the various cost-benefit estimates and suggested that such a regulation
could hurt foreign trade if other countries view it as a way of hindering
their tire sales in the United States."
Associated Press,
July 31, 1995
TCDD Listed as
Human Carcinogen In National Toxicology Program Report
"Tozzi, now a
lobbyist, told BNA Jan. 22 that it was significant that NTP published
an addendum on TCDD to the ninth report because that information had been
kept under seal by the lower court judge.
"Tozzi said that
NTP changed its rationale for listing TCDD. Throughout the NTP review
and listing process, NTP scientists said that upgrading the classification
was justified solely on the basis of animal data, he said. During the
district court review, NTP said its listing was based on solely human
data, Tozzi said."
Bureau of National
Affairs, Daily Environment Report, January 23, 2001
Group Threatens
Litigation if Dioxin Reassessment is 'Unscientific'
"An industry
consulting firm is pressing EPA to incorporate what it considers to be
evidence of decreasing exposure to dioxin in the agency's long-awaited
risk reassessment of the chemical, hinting it will take legal action if
the agency does not show its consideration of that data in the public
forum. EPA officials say they will 'include' the information in the reassessment,
but cannot promise to what extent they will 'incorporate' the data in
the reassessment.
"On April 7,
the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) wrote Assistant Administrator
for Research & Development Norine Noonan to ask if the agency is incorporating
studies and papers released in the past five years on dioxin into its
updated risk assessment. CRE is already engaged in a lawsuit in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia against Health & Human
Services Department (HHS) for listing dioxin as a known human carcinogen
in its ninth report on carcinogens, due to be released May 15."
Inside EPA, April
21, 2000
Group Calls EPA
Cancer Risk Definitions Out of Line with Federal Policy
"An industry-sponsored
research group is warning EPA that the agency has strayed from common
government vernacular for describing potential cancer risks, and that
those definitions appear to have moved beyond congressional intent. The
group notes similar moves have prompted litigation against the government,
and speculates that Congress could investigate government inconsistency
on characterizing cancer risks, according to a March 20 letter to the
agency from the group....
"In the March 20 letter to EPA Administrator Carol Browner, the Center
for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) notes that EPA's latest cancer guidelines
use the term 'likely human carcinogen' while both EPA's Toxic Release
Inventory (TRI) and HHS' Report on Carcinogens have explicitly used the
terms 'known' or 'reasonably anticipated.' Those terms stem from the 1978
Report on Carcinogens statute and the 1986 Emergency Planning & Community
Right-to-Know Act's Toxic Release Inventory provisions, the letter concludes."
Inside EPA, March
24, 2000
Group Develops
Plan for New Administration Data Quality Rules
"The Center for
Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE)--which drafted the proposal--has also placed
the plan on the Internet to collect the first-ever 'private sector' docket
of public comments, a CRE source says. The source explains the effort
is aimed at prodding OMB into taking action on the issue of data quality,
saying, 'In the new millennium, they've got to get into the information
business.'"
Risk Policy Report,
February 21, 2000
OMB Approves Information
Collection Under 1999 EPA Dioxin TRI Regulation
"Jim Tozzi, president
of the consulting firm, Multinational Business Services Inc., based in
Washington, D.C., asked the federal court to overturn the rule in part
because EPA did not comply with PRA. The suit by Tozzi, an OMB official
in the Reagan administration, also said the rule usurped 'legislative
power in violation of the non-delegation doctrine.'
"The suit is
the first legal challenge to the October 1999 rule adding dioxins to TRI
and lowering the reporting threshold for other chemicals."
Bureau of National
Affairs, Daily Environment Report, February , 2000
Press
Articles on CRE Affiliated Organizations
Recognized Regulatory
Expertise
"Jim J. Tozzi,
who as a career official at OMB until 1983, was instrumental in establishing
the [OMB regulatory] authority, said, 'For years, regulatory review was
in the backwater. Now it's the largest office in OMB.'
"For years, Tozzi
said, he and other career officials within OMB had been pushing for the
authority in review regulations...
"Stockman, working
out of his congressional office as a member of Reagan's transition team,
talked with Tozzi and proposed some kind of regulatory clearance process.
Tozzi worked on the idea with James E. Miller...and several other to develop
Executive Order 12291, which Reagan issued in early 1982. The order gave
the OMB office the authority to review every regulation that executive
agencies--although not the independent agencies--issue or formally propose."
National Journal
MBS International
Ties
"A Japanese company has purchased a substantial share of one of this
country's largest fastener manufacturers...
"According to
Form 13D (filed jointly by Okabe Company Ltd., Okabe Company, Inc., Multinational
Business Services, Inc. and Akira Okabe Company Ltd.) Okabe Company Ltd.,
beginning on October 16, 1987, purchased 10.98% of the common shares of
Elco Industries.
"...Multinational
Business Services Inc. (MBS), on eof the joint filers of the schedule
13D, is described as a Washington, D.C. based company whose principal
business is regulatory and trade counseling..."
Fastener Industry
News
Landfill Standards
Could Result in Seven-Fold Increase in Owners' Costs
"Regulations
for solid waste landfills to be proposed by the Environmental Protection
Agency this fall could increase owners' and operators' compliance costs
seven times, says a study by Multinational Business Services, a Washington,
D.C. consulting firm.
"MBS calculated
that the nationwide costs for municipal landfills to comply with new Subtitle
D standards under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act could range
from $2 billion to $25 billion."
Solid Waste Report
Knowing the Washington
Bureaucracy
"In the pantheon
of government regulatories, Jim Tozzi will occupy a hallowed niche. As
a high-ranking official in the Office of Management and Budget, Tozzi
has a hand in virtually every major environmental regulation since the
creation of EPA."
"...Few know
their way around the Washington Bureaucracy better than Jim Tozzi, whether
or not you like his decisions."
Environmental Health
Letter
Industry and the
Executive Branch
"
Industry
in particular has a lot to learn about how to deal with the executive
branch of the federal government. They're not very good at presenting
their case. Most of them use their Washington attorneys and the last thing
I need is more lawyers to talk to
What I need is data."
Jim Tozzi in The American
Disease, George C. Lodge, Alfred A. Knopf, New York
If There's a New
Rule, Jim Tozzi Has Read It
"
Tozzi
is deputy administrator for information and regulatory affairs of the
Office of Management and Budget, the career official responsible for reviewing
every one of the 3,500 regulations issued by the government in a year,
after his staff of 30 desk officers have scrutinized them.
"
Objectivity
and restraint are two sources of his political clout and durability
"
Washington Post
Need for Alternative
Dispute Resolution
"An out-of-court
process for resolution of technical disputes involving the Environmental
Protection Agency's groundwater standards has been proposed. Multinational
Business Services, Inc., a consulting firm
has written
of
its concern with the 'growing complexity' of the rules.
"Geological differences
at the many regulated sites could raise disputes about the number, spacing
and location of monitoring wells and other issues, MBS contends. Currently,
the only means of resolving those disputes is through the courts or the
permit appeals process, both of which rely primarily on legal expertise
rather than on technical soundness."
Air/Water Pollution
Report
MBS and Legal Services
"'We know Stage
II [gasoline station vapor recovery system] works. There are 14,000 [service
stations with the equipment] in California,' said Jim J. Tozzi, Director
of Multinational Business Services, Inc., a Washington consultant whose
clients include the auto industry.
"Tozzi, a former
Office of Management and Budget regulatory official in the Reagan Administration,
has prepared but not filed a legal brief contending that Stage II should
be required now because it has been demonstrated to be a 'reasonably available
control' that the Clean Air Act requires in areas that have not yet reached
the national ozone standards."
National Journal
The Carcinogen Minefield
"
Tozzi
established an 'Ad Hoc Group on Toxic Torts' after members of the staff
of Senator Robert Stafford (R-VT) began pressing the White House last
year to take a position on his bill to expand the Superfund.
"
Tozzi's
Jan. 21 issue memorandum listed three possible ways of assigning 'responsibility
for harm caused by hazardous products':
Codify substantive
standards of tort liability
Create a fund to
recompense those injured by hazardous products
Limit potential
liability for manufacture, sale, and disposal of hazardous products by
setting statutory ceilings
"
Miami News
Capital Formation
and Risk
"Without freedom,
without the right to own property and capital assets, there can be no
venture capital. Just as critical as the right to own your own business,
or to own stocks and bonds, is the right to take risks, both as an individual
and as a society. Without risks, there can be no progress."
Leland E. Modesitt,
Jr. of MBS, MLB Advisory
Petroleum Industry
Restructuring
"Shifts in industry
structure
may be spurred on by environmental regulations
Growth
in capital requirements and operating costs will result in fewer small
retail outlets which do automotive service work, and in larger numbers
of self-service and high-volume gasoline sales outlets. The majors will
probably continue to reduce the numbers of company-owned stations
"
Leland E. Modesitt,
Jr., of MBS, "Leading the Way Toward Restructuring the Petroleum
Industry," Journal of Petroleum Technology
Regulations and
the Federal Budget
"Jim J. Tozzi,
who recently retired after serving as an official of the agency [OMB]
through four administrations, argues that the White House must gain the
same level of control over regulation that it imposes on the budget.
"'Just as you have a centralized budget,' he said, 'there has to
be a centralized way to set priorities for non-budget matters.'"
The New York Times
The Cost of Regulations
"On the matter
of controlling gasoline vapors that escape when cars refuel at service
stations
The auto industry is already challenging the proposed regulations.
A report prepared by the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association of the
United States by Multinational Business Services, Inc., a consulting firm,
contended that the costs of the on-board controls would be five times
those of the controls on the pumps over the 35-year period."
The New York Times
The Federal Focus Jazz Band Story
Traditional jazz – a.k.a. "New Orleans jazz”, “dixieland jazz”, or “classic jazz” – is stronger today than it has been in many years. And yet it is in grave danger.
Sound contradictory? Look around you. Traditional jazz festivals and cruises are everywhere; the one in Sacramento is California’s fourth largest tourism event. There are over a hundred societies in this country devoting themselves to the furtherance of traditional jazz, some with thousands of members. And traditional jazz recordings -- new sessions and reissues -- are being released at a prodigious rate.
But wait, something’s wrong here. The society members, the festival goers, the musicians themselves -- they’re… they’re…gray haired.
Click
to read The Federal Focus Jazz Band Story
Toxic Tort Compensation
"
EPA, the
Justice Department, and the Department of Commerce are expected to submit
their views on the compensation issues by the middle of October.
"But Jim J.
Tozzi, who headed up OMB's study before becoming a consultant
said
it is conceivable that OMB will not come up with one single policy solution
after hearing from various agencies. 'You can be consistent without
being rigid and that is the way I think they [OMB] will come out,' said
Tozzi."
Legal Times
Realism and the
National Cancer Policy
"James Tozzi
believes that in writing a new policy on regulation of carcinogens,
the Reagan Administration has admitted something previous administrations
refused to face - that regardless of national policy, some people are
going to die.
"'It's up front,
telling the American people that some people are going to get cancer,'
Tozzi said. 'That is a lot more truthful than saying 'We are protecting
you from anything that can happen to you.''
"Tozzi is a
Washington consultant who represents business interests that have regulatory
problems. Until a few months ago, he was the No. 2 official in the White
House regulatory reform office."
The Atlanta Journal
and Constitution
New Municipal Waste
Costs
"
a study
conducted on the potential Subtitle D compliance costs of municipal
landfills to meet new solid waste standards
prepared by Multinational
Business Services in Washington, D.C., found that costs could range
from $2 billion to $25 billion (based on three potential scenarios of
environmental controls).
"In addition,
because operating Subtitle D municipal landfills currently have minimal
groundwater protection measures and other environmental controls in
place, and EPA requirements to upgrade such controls, will result in
costs exceeding several billion dollars."
BioCycle
Stealth Lobbying Kills Secondary Smoke
Proposal
"Tozzi is 'the consummate Washington
insider,' said David Vladeck, director of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, a consumer-oriented
legal organization in Washington. He 'knows OMB business better than OMB, because I don't think
there's a job at OMB that Jim didn't do at one point."
Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1995
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to read article
Tozzi on Torts
Washington Watch; Cruise Ships, U.S. Style