Bush administration officials are changing their tune on two controversial regulations that would have weakened existing air pollution controls. According to both the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA will not finalize a rule to allow more power plant pollution near national parks and a rule changing how pollution is measured under the Clean Air Act's New Source Review program. Environmentalists are hailing the news. The national parks rule would have allowed for increased greenhouse gas emissions and dirtied the air near some of America's most pristine landscapes. Kudos to the Bush administration for abandoning these ill-conceived proposals. Elsewhere on the midnight regulations front, the Department of the Interior officially unveiled its final rule that will make it legal for mining companies to dump into rivers and streams the waste generated during mountaintop mining. (More here.) The rule is slated for publication in the Federal Register tomorrow and will likely take effect Jan. 11, 2009 — a little over a week before Barack Obama takes office.