Liza Tucker

Liza Tucker is a consumer advocate for Consumer Watchdog, following everything from oil and gas to the regulation of toxic substances in the state of California. She comes to us from Marketplace, the largest U.S. broadcast show on business and economics heard by ten million listeners each week on 400 radio stations. Liza worked at this public radio show for a decade, first as Commentary Editor and then as Senior Editor for both Washington and Sustainability News. At Marketplace, Liza produced and edited several special feature series from who funds Washington think tanks to the BP oil spill. Liza has worked as a journalist, consultant, teacher, and translator.

Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Liza spent a few years in Bologna, Italy. She covered business at The Washington Post and later free-lanced her way through the Soviet Union, covering its collapse for Time, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. Liza is fluent in Russian and speaks Italian. She taught journalism at Allegheny College.  She also served as a consultant to the MacArthur Foundation awarding individual grants in the areas of independent media, women’s rights, and legal reform, and to US AID on how to support independent media in Ukraine. She translated Alexandra’s letters to Nicholas for The Fall of the Romanovs, published by Yale University Press. She traveled through Europe in 2009 as a German Marshall Fund Fellow studying German, French, Danish, and British approaches to sustainability. She holds a B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.F.A. in poetry from Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

Liza Tucker

Consumer Watchdog Unveils Top 10 Signs of California’s Shattered Bottle Deposit System, Urges Governor To Act Fast To Fix It

Los Angeles, CA -- With two weeks left in the legislative session, Consumer Watchdog today urged Governor Newsom to reform a hopelessly shattered bottle...

CA’s Big 5 Oil Refiner Profits Top $26 Billion, $1 Per Gallon; Watchdog To Make Case For Profits Disclosure Bill And Windfall Profits Tax...

Los Angeles, CA— A review of California’s five big oil refiners’ investor reports from the second quarter shows unprecedented, windfall profits that top $1 per...

Pilot Error : How CalRecycle’s New CRV Refund Pilots are Crashing and Burning

CalRecycle is banking on pilot programs around the state, including “mobile” return pilots, to make it easier for consumers to get California Redemption Value...

Bottle Deposit Pilot Programs to Help Refund Consumer CRV Are Crashing and Burning, Consumer Watchdog Reveals

Los Angeles, CA — CalRecycle is banking on pilot programs around the state, including “mobile” return pilots, to make it easier for consumers to...

2nd Quarter Permits To Fix Oil Wells Skyrocket As Groups Urge Newsom To Mandate Plugging Old Leaky Wells To Protect Public Health

Los Angeles, CA — State approvals for permits to fix or deepen existing oil wells skyrocketed in the second quarter by 124% over the...

Black Gold: The $10 Trillion Dollar Cost of California Oil

The true cost to the public of California’s oil and gas production and combustion is estimated to reach $10 trillion by 2045, a new report released...

Cost to Californians $10 Trillion by 2045 From Oil And Gas, Consumer Watchdog Reveals in New Report

Los Angeles, CA—The true cost to the public of California’s oil and gas production and combustion is estimated to reach $10 trillion by 2045, a new...

1st Quarter Approvals For Higher Risk Oil Extraction Up Sharply While Industry Forgoes Using Nearly Two Thirds Of Permits Granted In Last Two Years,...

Los Angeles, CA—Permit approvals for drilling new Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) wells using higher risk steam injection techniques jumped up 59% in the first...

State Obscures Extent of a Half-Billion-Dollar Surplus of Unredeemed CRV Deposits As Redemption Rate Stays Stuck at 58%, Consumer Watchdog Says

Los Angeles, CA —The rate at which consumers take bottles and cans for direct deposit refunds stands at 58.8% as of November, keeping California...

CA Crosses Line Of 10,000 Oil Drilling Permits Issued Since Newsom Took Office, Groups Urge Newsom To Cease All Permitting

Los Angeles, CA —As the LA City Council votes today to ban oil and gas wells, Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker Alliance reported that Governor...

Fraud In Bottle Deposit System Out Of Control; Costing Consumers Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Annually, Consumer Watchdog Reveals

Los Angeles, CA---Recycling scams are costing California consumers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in nickel and dime deposits stolen through fraudulent bottle and...

Cash For Trash: Recycling Fraud In California

Recycling fraud is costing Californians hundreds of millions of dollars annually. This report explains the problem and how to fix it. Read the report here.

Failure of Bottle Deposit Program Costing Californians 750,000 Tons of Greenhouse Gases, The Equivalent of Putting More Than 160,000 New Cars On The Road

Los Angeles, CA — Inattention to California’s bottle deposit program is dramatically growing the state’s carbon footprint, according to analysis by the Container Recycling...

CA Dangerously Close To Approving 10,000 Oil Drilling Permits since Newsom Assumed Office; Groups Demand Gov. Deliver On Putting Oil Drilling Into Rear View...

Los Angeles, CA — Governor Newsom’s oil regulators have approved 9,728 oil drilling permits since he assumed office in 2019, according to a new...

Governor Newsom Must End Oil Permits In State Waters And Order 2,500-Foot Barrier Between Communities And Oil Drilling, Consumer Watchdog And FracTracker Alliance Say

Los Angeles, CA — While an oil spill in federal waters damages Southern California beaches, wildlife and habitat, oil regulators under Gov. Gavin Newsom...

California Assembly Stops Bottle Deposit Bill Fix For 2021 As Redemption Rate Drops to 56%

Los Angeles, CA—The California Assembly refused to act on a budget proposal put forth by the Senate to shore up Californian’s collapsing bottle deposit...

CA Permit Approvals For New Well Drills Are Down 64% For The First Six Months; Consumer Watchdog Urges Governor To Seize Golden Opportunity To...

Los Angeles, CA — Permit approvals to drill or rework new oil wells fell by 64% in the first six months of 2021 over...

Consumer Watchdog Applauds Oil Regulator’s Denial Of Aera Fracking Permits

Los Angeles, CA—The denial by the California Geologic Energy Management Division of 21 Aera Energy fracking permits is a win for public health and...

Assembly Member Richard Bloom’s Legislation Allows More Grocery Stores To Refuse to Take Back Empty Bottles and Cans During Recycling Crisis; Senior Speaks Out...

Los Angeles, CA — Legislation backed by the waste hauling industry and authored by Santa Monica Assembly Member Richard Bloom would make fewer grocery...

Waste Haulers: The Square Peg in the Circular Economy

This exposé explores the reasons for the failure of California’s bottle deposit system, which currently has a 57% redemption rate, and puts the blame on...

Waste Haulers Are Driving California’s Bottle Deposit System Failure, New Report Reveals, As Lawmakers Consider System Run By Beverage Industry

Los Angeles, CA— A muckraking report on the reasons for the failure of California’s bottle deposit system, which currently has a 57% redemption rate,...

Undercover Video Shows West LA Senior Citizen Illegally Refused Bottle and Can CRV Deposit By Grocers Due To “Covid,” Stockpiles Thousands of Cans

Los Angeles, CA — Nancy Hannickel, 75, a long-time resident of West Los Angeles, has bags of thousands of bottles and cans in her...

Consumer Watchdog Applauds Fracking Ban, Calls For More Steps As First Quarter 2021 Oil Permit Approvals Plunge

Los Angeles, CA — Governor Newson’s ban on fracking in 2024 is a step in the right direction, and with the number of permit...

75% of Whole Foods Markets Abandon Bottle and Can Recycling As Redemption Rate Sinks To 58% And Groups Back Fundamental Deposit Reform

Los Angeles, CA— With redemption centers closing at a record pace, now major supermarket chains that must choose to either redeem bottle deposits in...

Consumer Watchdog Applauds Bill To Ban All Dangerous Forms Of Oil Extraction Including Hydraulic Fracturing

Los Angeles, CA — Consumer Watchdog today welcomed newly introduced state legislation—SB 467—to ban fracking and a host of other more commonly employed and...

Consumer Redemption Rate Stands At 58.9%; Governor And Legislature Must Make Bottle Returns Convenient, Says Consumer Watchdog

Los Angeles, CA — The latest data on the bottle and can redemption rate for 2020 for the first eleven months, put out by the Governor’s...

Newsom Administration Doubles New Oil And Gas Production Well Permits, Misses Deadline for Drilling Setback Rule

Los Angeles, CA — California oil regulators more than doubled the dispensing of permits in 2020 to drill new oil and gas production wells,...

Consumer Bottle Redemption Rate Falls To 58%, Major Overhaul Of Container Recycling Program Inescapable, Says Consumer Watchdog

Los Angeles, CA — Between July and September of 2020, the rate of consumer redemption of empty beverage containers fell another two percentage points...

CA Permits To Drill New Oil And Gas Production Wells Rose 160%, While New Wells Actually Drilled Plummets To 60;

Los Angeles, CA — Oil companies received 160% more oil production drilling permits in the first nine months of 2020 over the year before,...

Redemption Rate For Empty Bottles And Cans Sinks To 60% As Consumers Forfeit $60 Million in Deposits Refunds

Los Angeles, CA—State data show that California consumers left $60 million in unredeemed bottle and can deposits with the state in the first six...

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