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.
Top Toxics Regulator’s Chief Deputy Resigns Amid State Conflict of Interest Investigation
Santa Monica, CA -- After a complaint by Consumer Watchdog to the state about investments made in companies she regulates, Odette Madriago, chief deputy director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), has stepped down from her position and will retire at the end of the year, the group has learned.
Top Toxics Regulator Suspends Lead Battery Recycler Exide But Consumer Watchdog Warns Californians Could Be On Hook For Millions In Cleanup Costs
SANTA MONICA, CA –The Department Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) did the right thing in taking aggressive action against the biggest lead battery recycler in the state, a serial toxic polluter, Consumer Watchdog said today. But the group faulted the DTSC for serious lapses in its regulation of the facility over two decades.
Earth Day, Earth Spin
It’s Earth Day. Here in California, state regulators are celebrating with their Keep California Beautiful Event that kicks off at the State Capitol followed by cleanup activities, like picking up litter and collecting e-waste, across the State.
Lessons (Not) Learned From the Chevron Fire
On Friday, federal accident investigators told California legislators that the state’s patchwork of oil industry regulations needs a serious overhaul. The Chevron fire that produced a toxic cloud and sent 15,000 people to the hospital could have been prevented, but the system was reactive and not designed to foresee and forestall problems, said the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. Duh.
Top Toxics Agency Left Refinery Inspector Positions Vacant As Lead Official Held Chevron Stock
SANTA MONICA, CA – The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has gutted its ability to inspect refineries in the wake of the Chevron refinery fire in Richmond last August, Consumer Watchdog said today. The information comes on the heels of a U.S. Chemical Safety Board statement before California lawmakers that the fire could have been prevented if agencies had more and better-skilled inspectors on staff.
Consumer Watchdog Calls for Firing of Top Toxic Officials After Fair Political Practices Commission Launches Investigation
SANTA MONICA, CA –Following news that the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) will investigate a top toxics regulator for financial conflicts of interest, Consumer Watchdog today reiterated its call for the firing of two top officials at the Department of Toxic Substances Control who invested as much as six and seven figures into companies that the DTSC regulates or licenses.
Department of Toxic Substances Control Levies Wrist Slap Fine on Chemical Waste Management Landfill Operator in Kettleman City
SANTA MONICA, CA –Consumer Watchdog today said that the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) levied a paltry fine of under $300,000 onto Chemical Waste Management - operator of the Kettleman Hills hazardous waste landfill - for failing to notify the department of 72 spills of hazardous waste over a four-year period.
Chevron Conflict At Toxics Agency That Routinely Ignores California Environmental Quality Act Requires External and Transparent Investigation
SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today called for Governor Brown to conduct his own investigation into allegations of financial conflict of interest at the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and to put two officials at the department on administrative leave immediately.
Consumer Watchdog Calls for Governor Brown to Fire Two DTSC Officials for Conflicts of Interest
SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today called for Governor Jerry Brown to fire two top officials at The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) for conflicts of interest. The letter said that the officials may have violated the California Code of Regulations by holding six and seven figure interests in companies regulated and/or licensed by the department while making decisions that could have affected those companies.
Consumer Watchdog Report Elicits Calls for Investigation of Toxics Regulator
SANTA MONICA, CA—Senator Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) became the fourth lawmaker to respond to Consumer Watchdog’s report, Golden Wasteland, calling the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) onto the carpet for falling down on the job and protecting hazardous waste polluters over people.
New Report Shows Regulators Not Protecting Public From Toxic Harm
Los Angeles, CA — California has some of the toughest environmental laws in the nation, and some of the weakest enforcement, according to a new report by leading California consumer group, Consumer Watchdog.
Consumer Watchdog Admonishes Toxics Regulators Who Ignored The Law To Approve Permit for New Waste Facility in Irwindale
SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today called on the Department of Toxic Substances Control to reverse its grant of a permit to CleanTech Environmental for a new Irwindale facility to process hazardous waste and recycle used motor oil because the department skipped a proper assessment of the risks. The DTSC granted the permit without performing a legally required Environmental Impact Report, the group said.
California Gas Prices: A Rigged Game Where Consumers Lose Big
Who would want two companies, Tesoro and Chevron, to control more than half of California's gasoline market? Only people, like oil company executives, who think paying five dollars a gallon should be the new normal.
Senators Add Fire to Scandal Over Phony California Fuel Crisis
Today, senators from California, Washington and Oregon joined our call to investigate refineries, asking the Department of Justice to comb through California refineries one by one to see whether market manipulation or false reporting by oil refineries had something to do with record $5 dollar a gallon prices at some California gas stations last month and near record prices earlier in the year.
Consumer Watchdog Applauds DTSC on Kettleman Landfill Citations, But Warns DTSC Not To Issue Permit to Expand
Santa Monica, CA – Consumer Watchdog today praised the Department of Toxic Substances Control for 72 citations of Chemical Waste Management Inc. for failing to report spills of hazardous waste at its hazardous waste and PCB landfill over a four-year period, but said now the department should follow through with a permit denial. The department referred the case to the state Attorney General’s Office.
Consumer Watchdog Asks For Criminal Investigation Of Refiners Over Study Showing False Info Led To $5 Per Gallon Gasoline
Santa Monica, CA – In a letter today, Consumer Watchdog called on California State Attorney General Kamala Harris to launch a criminal investigation into the conduct of oil companies in the state based on new information that oil refiners were running refineries and building inventories even when they said that they were performing maintenance.
Export, Baby, Export: And Keep Gas Prices Up
As gas prices spiked in California last month to blow past even Hawaii’s highest-in-the-nation, the state’s refineries were exporting gas. That’s right, exporting, just like the rest of the nation’s refineries. According to the Energy Department, we are now net exporters of fuel for the first time since 1949.
Going Rogue in the Golden State: Regulating Chevron
If there’s one industry that has free rein in California, it’s the refinery business. California doesn’t regulate supplies of gasoline, so refineries here only keep around ten days on hand, instead of the more than three week supply most refineries do in other states. We’ve only got 14 refineries here making gasoline, down by half from a few decades ago.
Consumer Watchdog Calls for End to Toxic Regulation at Department of Toxic Substances Control
Santa Monica, CA — Consumer Watchdog sent a letter today to the head of California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control urging the agency to stop stalling and sanction or pull permits of serial environmental violators, including Chevron and Evergreen Oil, a used oil-re-refiner.
Dirty Dancing at the DTSC: Toxic Lead Coming to a Landfill Near You
Remember those old, clunky TVs and computer monitors? The ones with Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) people threw out in favor of flat screens? Well, now electronics makers don't want to recycle them.
Up until this week, California state law directed certified waste recyclers to sell leaded Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) glass from the old clunkers back to CRT makers or smelters.
Chevron Counts on Jigsaw Puzzle of Safety Regulation to Escape Oversight, Accountability, Says Consumer Watchdog
Santa Monica, CA — Monday night’s explosion and hours-long fire at Chevron’s large oil refinery in Richmond, Ca., released toxic chemicals including sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in unknown amounts, sending hundreds of local residents to local hospitals with breathing and eye complaints.
Evergreen Is Never Clean: Time For Hazardous Waste Regulators to Act
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a hazardous vapor spews out of an industrial plant, but no regulator reacts, was there ever a leak?