University Research To Help Battle Ergonomics Proposal
The Regulatory Studies Program at George Mason University is researching the impact the proposal would have on business, Wendi Gramm, the program’s director, said in a June 17 speech to the Labor & Human Resources Policy Committee of American Trucking Associations.
ramm said she is preparing comments on the proposal in an effort to persuade the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to take into account the effect it would have on business.
Before issuing any significant rule, government agencies should also take into account what the private sector is already doing, what the appropriate federal role is, what other alternatives may exist and whether the proposal has a strong scientific or technical basis, she said.
Regulations are a hidden tax, costing businesses at least $700 billion a year, Gramm said.
Proposed regulations often are drafted from the government’s point of view, she said. Industry comments are often discounted because they are seen as biased.
The Environmental Protection Agency virtually ignored the impact revisions to the Clean Air Act would have on trucking and other industries, Gramm said.
“EPA Administrator Carol Browner said her mind was made up even before the comments were closed,” Gramm said, forcing ATA and other trade groups to file a lawsuit.
In May, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., overturned the agency’s decision on air quality standards.
“This is very good work,” Gramm said of the lawsuit. “It’s a landmark decision.”
