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.
Price Of Gas Up A Dime, State Investigators Still Mum On Consumer Watchdog Request To Rule Out Refinery Price Manipulation
Santa Monica, CA -- Consumer Watchdog said today that the spot price of gas leapt a dime overnight, as the group had predicted in the wake of two refinery shutdowns affecting 16 percent of the state’s refining capacity.
Something Stinks and It’s Refineries
Today’s explosion at the Torrance refinery couldn’t come at a better time—for refiners interested in driving up the price of gas.
Two Refineries Down, Gas Prices Up: Consumer Watchdog Calls For On-Site Inspections To Investigate Price Manipulation
Santa Monica, CA—Responding to a shutdown of two refineries that produce 16 percent of the state’s gasoline, Consumer Watchdog called on state officials to send independent inspectors to verify refinery claims that the shutdowns were really necessary.
Consumer Watchdog Urges CA Attorney General and Regulators to Investigate Tesoro’s Martinez Refinery Shutdown to Rule Out Gasoline Price Manipulation
Santa Monica, CA—Consumer Watchdog today sent a letter to California Attorney General Kamala Harris and Robert Weisenmiller, Chair of the California Energy Commission, asking that they investigate Tesoro’s decision to shut down its Martinez refinery indefinitely as steelworkers mount a national strike.
Top Toxics Regulator Levies No Fines On Exide For Fresh Violations In Signal It Plans To Grant Serial Polluter A Permit, Says Consumer Watchdog
Santa Monica, CA — Far from turning over a new leaf, the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) listed eight violations inspectors discovered at Exide Technologies’ lead battery recycling facility in Vernon without levying a single fine, Consumer Watchdog said.
Sacramento Judge Rejects Boeing’s Bid to Demolish and Dispose of Radioactive Waste Without Accountability
Santa Monica, CA -- Sacramento Superior Court has denied Boeing’s motion for summary judgment in a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit over the demolition and disposal of radioactively contaminated structures from the site of a partial nuclear meltdown near Los Angeles, Consumer Watchdog said today.
New DTSC Director Says No Need to Reform Toxics Agency: Consumer Watchdog Urges Governor Brown to Fire Appointee or Have Her Apologize
Santa Monica, CA—Consumer Watchdog urged Governor Brown today to rethink his appointment of Barbara Lee as the new director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) after remarks she made that there was no need to reform the deeply troubled agency.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: CA TV Stations Take $100 Million From Insurance Companies Against Props 45 & 46 But Some Did Not Cover Measures
Santa Monica, CA - TV stations in a dozen California markets skipped coverage of consumer friendly Propositions 45 and 46, despite the fact that $100 million from insurance companies flooded stations with advertising revenue. The ballot measures hold insurance companies and dangerous doctors they insure accountable.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Insurance Companies Spend More Than $100 Million Against Prop 45 and 46 Consumer Protections; Public Warned Of Deceptive Mailers and Advertising
Santa Monica, CA – Consumer Watchdog today warned voters that insurance companies had spent more than $100 million on deceptive advertising opposing pro-consumer Propositions 45 and 46.
Yes On 45: La Opinion Adds Endorsement Of Prop 45 To Long List Of Small Newspapers Standing Up For The Little Guy
SANTA MONICA—Spanish language newspaper La Opinion endorsed Prop 45 over the weekend joining more than a dozen other newspapers supporting Yes on 45 on behalf of six million individuals and small businesses that health insurance companies are price gouging on premiums.
YES on 45: HealthNet Contributes $5 Million to Deceptive and Misleading No on 45 Campaign Using Actor as Phony Hardware Store Owner in TV...
SANTA MONICA, CA – Health Insurer HealthNet has chipped in nearly $5 million to defeat Prop 45 in a sign that the health insurance industry fears rate regulation that a yes vote on the proposition would bring, Consumer Watchdog said today. The insurance pot against Prop 45 now totals $43 million to pay for misleading and deceptive TV ads, radio spots, and “independent” opinion pieces.
Advocates Call on Governor Brown to Side with Communities on Key Legislation Reforming Hazardous Waste Permitting
SANTA MONICA, CA –Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice today asked Governor Jerry Brown and California EPA Secretary Matt Rodriquez to reject an attack by the state’s top toxics regulator—the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC)—on key reform legislation authored by Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles).
Consumer Watchdog Calls on Governor Brown to Fix Top Toxics Regulator in Wake of Scathing State Audit
SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today said that the state audit uncovering $194 million that the Department Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) failed to bill or collect from polluters could be the tip of the iceberg, and called on Governor Brown to appoint a new director committed to protecting Californians from toxic—and fiscal—harm.
Top Toxics Regulator Resigns in Sign of Possible Reform
SANTA MONICA, CA –Today’s resignation of Debbie Raphael, Director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control, is a hopeful sign that the Brown Administration will finally clean up a deeply troubled department, Consumer Watchdog said today.
“We hope that this is just the start of a thorough housecleaning at the DTSC by Governor Brown,” said advocate Liza Tucker.
Toxics Regulators Doctor Results of Investigation To Avoid Admitting Wildomar Residents Poisoned
Santa Monica, CA— A new report released today by leading environmental advocate Penny Newman and residents of the poisoned Wildomar community shows that state toxics regulators doctored data in a preliminary investigation of the Autumnwood housing complex to avoid pinpointing what has poisoned the Riverside County residents and skip any cleanup, Consumer Watchdog said today.
Toxics Regulators Reject Proven Technology to Link Exide Battery Recycler to Lead Contamination at 39 Homes
Santa Monica, CA—Regulators at the Department of Toxic Substances Control folded under industry pressure and ignored proven particulate sampling technology that could have shown Exide Technologies is the source of lead and arsenic contamination in East LA communities, Consumer Watchdog said today. Without proof of the connection, the DTSC cannot fine Exide or force it to clean up.
Concern Mounts That NASA Is On Verge Of Breaking Out Of Santa Susana Field Lab Cleanup Agreement
SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog and four other environmental groups today said that NASA could be about to break the commitments it made in a 2010 agreement to clean up all the detectible contamination at its former Santa Susana Field Lab (SSFL) rocket testing site in the Simi Hills.
Consumer Watchdog Calls on Governor to Spearhead Toxic Cleanups After Regulators Reveal Exide Contamination
SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog today called on Governor Brown to direct the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to order Exide Technologies, a lead battery recycler in Vernon, to clean up its lead contamination of soil at 39 homes and a pre-school in the area.
California Governor Jerry Brown Intervenes in Case of Exide Technologies
SANTA MONICA, CA--Governor Jerry Brown today intervened in the case of Vernon lead battery recycler Exide Technologies that has threatened public health with hazardous emissions of lead. The governor discussed the case with regulators at the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), which revealed that testing of soil at 39 area homes showed unacceptably high levels of lead.
Department of Public Health Radiological Branch Launches Investigation as Toxics Regulators Allow Large Quantities of Possibly Contaminated Soil to Leave Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard
Santa Monica, CA—Consumer Watchdog has confirmed that the Department of Public Health’s Radiological Health Branch is investigating allegations that large amounts of soil dug up in a potentially radioactively contaminated parcel at Hunters Point may not have been checked for radiation before shipping to facilities not licensed to take low level radioactive waste.
Consumer Watchdog Requests Radiological Inspection at Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard As Possibly Contaminated Soil Heads to Landfills Unlicensed for Radioactive Waste
Santa Monica, CA—Consumer Watchdog has called for a state investigation of the cleanup of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco for large amounts of soil that may have been dug up in a radioactively impacted parcel without being checked for contamination and then sent off site for possible disposal in landfills unlicensed to take low-level radioactive waste.
Consumer Groups Win Preliminary Injunction Against Toxics Regulator Over Illegal Disposal of Boeing Radioactive Debris
SANTA MONICA, CA –The Sacramento Superior Court granted a motion for preliminary injunction against the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) pending final outcome of a lawsuit filed by Consumer Watchdog counsel and Strumwasser & Woocher on behalf of Consumer Watchdog and three other groups over the illegal demolition and disposal of radioactive debris from Boeing's Santa Susana nuclear reactor an