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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Climate Solutions from Day One

New governors are getting ready to take office in 20 states, from Florida to Alaska. As America’s newly elected governors prepare to take on their states’ biggest challenges, they should prioritize taking bold action on the greatest challenge of our time: climate change.

Blog Post | Solid Waste

Thinking about reducing plastic waste in your life? Here's how one U.S. PIRG member cut her waste in half

"It's freeing to not be constantly wanting more and better stuff."

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Transportation

Ford and Volkswagen form “global alliance,” will investigate ways to develop electric vehicles

Two of the world’s largest automakers, Ford and Volkswagen, announced at the Detroit Auto Show that they’re teaming up to build vehicles together. Although they are starting by developing commercial vans and medium-sized pickups, the companies agreed to "investigate" how they can work together to develop next generation vehicles, such as electric cars. U.S. PIRG is calling on them to take swift action to bring clean vehicles to the road.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Fiat Chrysler Settlement Fails to Protect Consumers

While we are glad that Fiat Chrysler is paying something for damaging the health of Americans and deceiving customers, this settlement does not go far enough. It neither ensures these violations of the public trust won’t happen again nor makes consumers whole.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Drivers still at risk as more Ford cars recalled

On Friday, Ford expanded a recall of its cars with Takata airbag inflators for the fourth time, broadening it by an additional 953,000 vehicles. Tano Toussaint, Consumer Watchdog Associate, responds.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Transportation

Ford and Volkswagen form “global alliance,” will investigate ways to develop electric vehicles

Two of the world’s largest automakers, Ford and Volkswagen, announced at the Detroit Auto Show that they’re teaming up to build vehicles together. Although they are starting by developing commercial vans and medium-sized pickups, the companies agreed to "investigate" how they can work together to develop next generation vehicles, such as electric cars. U.S. PIRG is calling on them to take swift action to bring clean vehicles to the road.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Fiat Chrysler Settlement Fails to Protect Consumers

While we are glad that Fiat Chrysler is paying something for damaging the health of Americans and deceiving customers, this settlement does not go far enough. It neither ensures these violations of the public trust won’t happen again nor makes consumers whole.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Drivers still at risk as more Ford cars recalled

On Friday, Ford expanded a recall of its cars with Takata airbag inflators for the fourth time, broadening it by an additional 953,000 vehicles. Tano Toussaint, Consumer Watchdog Associate, responds.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Democracy

U.S. PIRG Statement on the introduction of the For the People Act

WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, January 3, House Democratic leaders unveiled a package of democracy reform legislation titled “For the People,” or House Resolution 1 (H.R.1). The package includes proposals to make it easier to vote and participate in our democracy, disclose secret political spending, reform redistricting practices and more. Most importantly, in creating a small donor empowerment system for federal elections, it would help combat the overwhelming influence of big money in point politics.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Wells Fargo Reaches $575 Million Settlement With 50 States and D.C. Over Fake-Accounts and Other Consumer Scandals

Here is our statement about today's announced Wells Fargo settlement.

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Result | Democracy

With Unanimous Bipartisan Vote, Automatic Voter Registration Bill Passes Massachusetts Senate

With a unanimous, bipartisan vote of 38-0, the Massachusetts Senate today passed Automatic Voter Registration. The AVR legislation would establish a system for eligible citizens to automatically register to vote when they interact with a state agency like the Registry of Motor Vehicles or MassHealth. Approximately 680,000 eligible Massachusetts voters are currently not registered to vote.

Result | Transportation

66 Mayors Sign Letter to U.S. DOT Urging Action to Reduce Carbon Emissions from Transportation

By 2050, nearly 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. While strong urban centers provide many important benefits, cities also face unique challenges. Despite accounting for just 2 percent of landmass, cities produce 70 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. This sad reality jeopardizes the health of urban residents and the health of our planet. That's why today, U.S. PIRG is proud to announce the support of 66 mayors, representing an estimated combined total 6.4 million people, in calling on the United States Department of Transportation to move forward with new rules that could require localities to track, measure, and take steps to reduce carbon emissions from transportation sources.

Result | Democracy

Delivering one million petitions to President Obama on dark money

U.S. PIRG joined a broad coalition to deliver one million petitions from Americans, including U.S. PIRG members and supporters, calling on President Obama to shine a light on dark money, or secret political spending.

Result | Consumer Protection

30 years of toy safety

For the past thirty years, our sister organization U.S. PIRG Education Fund has taken a close look at the safety of toys sold in stores. Their reports have led to more than 150 regulatory actions. In November 2015, they released our 30th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

Result | Democracy

Giving more Americans a greater voice in our elections

In our democracy, the size of your wallet shouldn’t determine the volume of your voice. In 2015, we helped win reforms in Maine and Seattle to ensure that more Americans have a greater say in our elections. Seattle’s Initiative-122 empowers small donors with “democracy vouchers” that can be donated to local candidates and lowers the cap on contributions. In Maine, the state’s Clean Elections Act was improved by strengthening campaign finance disclosure laws and offering qualifying candidates increased public funding.

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Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Climate Solutions from Day One

New governors are getting ready to take office in 20 states, from Florida to Alaska. As America’s newly elected governors prepare to take on their states’ biggest challenges, they should prioritize taking bold action on the greatest challenge of our time: climate change.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Financial Reform

Positioned To Protect

With the CFPB under new management less interested in consumer protection and law enforcement, our new report highlights steps states, counties and cities are taking to protect consumers better. Coincidentally, the report was completed on the same day that the U.S. Senate confirmed Kathy Kraninger to a 5-year term as CFPB director. She replaces her mentor, the OMB director Mick Mulvaney, who has been serving as acting CFPB director for just over a year.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Paying for Electric Buses

Most of America’s school and transit buses run on diesel, a highly-polluting fuel, but there is a better option. All-electric buses are here, and they’re cleaner, healthier and save money for transit agencies, school districts and bus contractors to run in the long-term.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection, Solid Waste

Warranties in the Void

Six months after the FTC warned six companies their “void warranty if removed” labels are forbiddenunder warranty laws, a survey by the consumer group U.S.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

A Citizen's Guide to Reducing Energy Waste

The future is here—but we’re living in the past.

Clean energy from the sun and wind can provide for our energy needs without the global consequences of pollution, yet we’re still producing and consuming virtually all of our energy in ways that do lasting damage to our environment, our health and our climate. To make matters worse, much of the dirty energy we produce goes to waste.

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Blog Post | Solid Waste

Thinking about reducing plastic waste in your life? Here's how one U.S. PIRG member cut her waste in half

"It's freeing to not be constantly wanting more and better stuff."

Blog Post | Solid Waste

Apple iPhone sales lag as customers maintain older phones, U.S. PIRG calls for Apple to embrace repair | Nathan Proctor

Right to Repair Campaign Director Nathan Proctor says, "Smartphones should not be treated as disposable, and we simply can’t continue making and tossing phones at such a rapid pace. It’s time for Apple to embrace repair, and our Right to Repair."

Blog Post | Financial Reform

Mulvaney Lobs One Last Softball To Industry Opponents of CFPB | Ed Mierzwinski

As the year 2018 came to an end, U.S. PIRG, Americans for Financial Reform and AFR members filed the last in in a seemingly interminable series of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Requests for Information. Although there was no clear intent to this "Data Collection" RFI, we, and allied academic scholars who filed a separate comment, both inferred it as another opportunity for industry opponents of the CFPB to attack the Bureau's consumer protection mission -- this time by challenging its collection and use of data to evaluate and respond to financial marketplace problems that harm consumers.

Blog Post | Solid Waste

Rebutting the Claim that Right To Repair Undermines Security | Nathan Proctor

Opponents to Right to Repair often claim that more repair options would undermine cyber security. But the experts at Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society disagree.

Blog Post | Solid Waste

New gifts replacing old electronics? Don’t toss the old | Nathan Proctor

Electronic waste can pose health and safety risks if you don’t dispose of it properly. So, this holiday season if you are replacing an older or broken piece of electronics with a new gift make sure the product, its components or the materials in the product end up in the right place -- and get reused or recycled if possible. Here’s how you can responsibly handle your used electronics.

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Blog Post

In reversal, judge rejects Monsanto's request to overturn landmark case linking man's cancer to Roundup

The high-profile legal case linking a man’s terminal cancer to Roundup has taken another twist.

Blog Post | Solid Waste

Fixing your device just got easier: Right to repair movement scores major win

Repairing your electronic device just got a little easier thanks to a seemingly unexpected source: The Library of Congress.

Blog Post

Electric buses are the future. Here's how to pay for them.

Dirty, unhealthy and expensive, diesel buses embody transportation's past. Electric buses are the future.

Blog Post

'There is absolutely no excuse for this': Your Experian credit freeze could have been unfrozen by anyone

Imagine locking your front door only to discover that your security company dropped by moments later and left your key on top of your welcome mat.

Blog Post

Walmart To Phase Out Paint Strippers Linked To Dozens Of Deaths

In the absence of government action on deadly paint strippers, retailers are stepping up to protect consumers.

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Help stop the overuse of antibiotics, be a watchdog for consumers, zero out dangerous toxics, protect kids from lead, get rid of more single use plastic and more.

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Watch Out For Unsafe Toys

Our “Trouble in Toyland” report found boron in slime, choking hazards without the proper warning labels, “connected” toys that pose a privacy risk and more.

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Help Save Lives By Saving Antibiotics

Effective antibiotics are critical tools in live-saving procedures, from cancer treatment to caring for premature babies. Sign up to help stop the overuse of antibiotics.

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HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?

One year after Equifax announced the worst data breach in history, a U.S. House committee has recommended weakening data breach laws. Tell Congress to protect Americans, not Equifax.

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