Consumer Law & Policy Blog

DC residents, this one hits close to home: fracking to be permitted near Potomac headwaters

Previously on the blog, we've covered a fracking ban in New York, litigation against a fracking protestor in Pennsylvania, and state oversight (or lack thereof) also in Pennsylvania. Now the issue is coming uncomfortably close to the city many coordinators and contributors to this blog call home.

Under a new federal agency plan, fracking will be permitted in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. Although the amount of the forest open to fracking has been reduced to less than 20% of the original area proposed -- and at least one environmental group praises the limit -- the AP reports that:

The federal management plan reverses an outright ban on hydraulic fracturing that the U.S. Forest Service had proposed in 2011 for the 1.1 million-acre forest, which includes the headwaters of the James and Potomac rivers. . . . Environmental groups fear the drilling and its waste could pollute mountain streams that directly provide drinking water to about 260,000 people in the Shenandoah Valley. Another 2.7 million people in Northern Virginia and Washington get part of their drinking water from the forest.

This is unsettling for me on a personal as well as policy level. The AP goes on to reassure us Washingtonians that the risk is theoretical:

This lobbying fight was mostly over principle, since no energy company has wanted to actually drill on the land they're leasing, [Robert] Bonnie [the undersecretary for national resources and environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture] acknowledged. "The economic value of these reserves is very low. We've had very little interest on oil and gas on the forest," Bonnie said.

Still, I'm not entirely reassured. Fracking poses significant risks, and a company could well decide to frack the forest in the future.

You can read the rest of yesterday's AP story about the G.W. National Forest here.

 

Amy Schmitz Article on Payday Lending and Gender

Amy Schmitz of Colorado has written Females on the Fringe: Considering Gender in Payday Lending Policy, 89 Chicago-Kent Law Review (2014).  Here's the abstract:

Payday lending may provide a much-needed safety net for some consumers in need of quick cash for emergencies. However, data suggest that most payday loan borrowers become repeat users caught in a cycle of high-cost debt. Furthermore, empirical evidence indicates consistent overrepresentation of women, including many single mothers, among payday loan borrowers. This takes a toll not only on these women and their families, but also on society as a whole. Indeed, context matters in payday lending debates. It is thus time to think creatively and consider contextualized programs that aim to increase women’s and all consumers’ safe borrowing options, provide education regarding those options, and ultimately assist them in escaping cycles of debt and poverty. This Article seeks to spark the dialogue regarding such contextualized policymaking.

Federal regulators demand that the Takata airbag recall go nationwide

The AP reports that

The federal government is demanding that the auto industry recall millions of additional cars equipped with faulty air bags that can injure -- and even kill -- a driver. The action Tuesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] covers driver's side air bags equipped with inflators made by Takata Corp. of Japan. The inflators can erupt and send metal fragments into the passenger compartment.

Peter Whorisky explains in this article that, if implemented, a nationwide Takata recall may be one of the "largest-ever automobile recalls, and possibly overwhelm manufacturers’ ability to replace the air bag systems." The air bags, NHTSA says, are used by at least 10 automakers — BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.

Before yesterday, NHTSA wanted only a so-called regional recall, agreeing with Takata that the airbag defect would manifest itself only in what NHTSA considered "high humidity" states.

We have previously posted about NHTSA's regional recall policy, which auto safety advocates claims is irrational and harms the safety and economic well-being of the American public. 

For a previous post on the Takata recall, go here.

A light but pithy take on the problem of web site fine print

From Slate, here. A good plain-English piece to share with folks who don't understand how corporations are limiting access to the courts.

Suit against mortgage servicer Ocwen alleges fraudulent charges, back-dated letters

NPR's Morning Edition this morning covered this pending case, in which borrowers assert a variety of unlawful practices. The New York State Department of Financial Services is also investigating.

For instance, one couple says that Ocwen charged fees for "property preservation" even though the couple lived in the home, force-placed insurance even though the couple already had insurance, and is now seeking to foreclose.

Well worth a listen, here.

Documenting Google's information empire

... is the goal of this Public Citizen report, worth a read.

This excerpt from the introduction gives a flavor:

As Google has continued to flourish, it has become ever bolder and more sophisticated in its methods to collect and combine information about individuals to generate revenue. Most Google users are likely aware that Google collects information about them, such as their Internet surfing practices. Few are likely aware of the extent or sophistication of the company’s information-collection methods. Even privacy experts interviewed for this project said that they did not know the totality of information Google collects or how it uses it.

Worrisome Features of the Terms of Use at "Social Networking Sites"

by Paul Alan Levy

 Late last week I attended a conference on Social Media Liability at Suffolk University Law School.  My own talk, about practical considerations in litigating online free speech issues, is not yet in publishable form, but a fascinating empirical study of the terms of use of several hundred "social networking sites" was presented.  I found the definition of the universe being sampled a bit odd, and some of the authors' oral presentation a bit fuzzy, but the study itself was fascinating. 

An excerpt from the SSRN abstract:

This Article employs a content and statistical analysis of 329 terms of use (TOU) of social networking sites (SNS) to report findings from this first empirical study of these online “contracts.” Social media terms of use present two primary challenges to the law of contracts; first, they are excessively one-sided in favor of the SNS and second, the key clauses are well beyond the reading comprehension level of the average social media user. Part I provides a systematic overview of the characteristics of our sample of the world’s largest social network providers, a diverse group of websites that are headquartered in forty different countries on four continents. Part II assesses the overall readability of these social networks’ TOU, finding that they are written at an average reading level of grade 11.7, significantly above the eighth to ninth grade reading level of the typical U.S. high school graduate. More importantly, the minimum reading level required to comprehend what we call the rights-foreclosure clauses — the mandatory arbitration, limitation of liability, and disclaimer of warranty provisions — is much higher. Social network providers draft rights-foreclosure clauses slightly below the reading level of the average college graduate, grade 15.5.

Energy drinks and health

A new study has found that more than half of calls to U.S. poison control centers about energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster are for children younger than 6, some suffering seizures and heart problems. Bloomberg has the story. "The study bolsters the idea that energy drinks aren’t safe for children and should carry explicit risk warnings, said Steven Lipshultz, chairman of pediatrics at Wayne State University in Detroit. People of all ages with underlying health conditions should be vigilant about the heavily caffeinated beverages, he said."

Last December, a study by researchers in Germany showed that healthy adults who consume energy drinks have significantly increased heart contraction rates an hour later.

A January 2013 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that from energy drink-related emergency department visits in the United States doubled between 2007 to 2011, increasing from 10,068 to 20,783.

Last June, the Center for Science in the Public Interest asked the FDA to require the labels of energy drinks to carry warnings about the risk of heart attack, convulsion, and other serious reactions.

FTC and Florida AG Put A Stop to Robocalls Used to Fraudulently Pitch Medical Alert Devices to Seniors

A settlement obtained by the Federal Trade Commission and the Office of the Florida Attorney General permanently shuts down an Orlando-based operation that bilked seniors by using pre-recorded robocalls to sell them supposedly free medical alert systems. The FTC's press release is here. The Stipulated Order and Permanent Injunction is here.

What will the CFPB do on mandatory pre-dispute arbitration?

That's the topic of Consumer Financing Pre-Dispute Mandatory Arbitration: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Developments by law professor Louis Del Duca. Here is the abstract:

Judicial precedent with regards to mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements has given such clauses substantial protection, resulting in their widespread inclusion in boilerplate contract language. However, recent findings and assertions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may cause a serious disruption in the use of such clauses in business to consumer (B to C) contracts. Recent CFPB studies and comments suggest that the CFPB is poised to exercise its authorization under the Dodd-Frank Act to restrict the use of pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements in consumer contracts.