A top Bush campaign contributor could benefit from an EPA decision to weaken a Clinton-era proposal to restrict handling of certain hazardous wastes. The rule, originally proposed under Clinton, would have enforced stringent handling restrictions on factory shop towels contaminated with solvents that can harm the health of workers. However, during the Bush administration, industry advocates were allowed to view an advanced copy of the regulation and propose changes, which were then adopted by the EPA, according to the Washington Post.

The National Park Service (NPS) has announced that it will allow up to 720 snowmobiles per day in Yellowstone, beginning this coming winter, while it works on a final rule on that matter. Despite a January federal court ruling rebuking the administration's efforts to reinstate the use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, NPS announced August 19 a plan that would allow snowmobile access to Yellowstone for up to three years while it drafts a new rule setting standards for snowmobile use.

White House officials have overridden a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to deny a Texas energy company's request to explore for natural gas in a national forest, according to correspondence uncovered by the Los Angeles Times. Although the Forest Service originally denied the request by El Paso Corp. two years ago, the agency made an about-face earlier this month and laid the groundwork for a future approval of the company's request to drill in the Carson National Forest, a section of New Mexico's Valle Vidal adjacent to the nation's largest Boy Scout camp.

According to a July 30 memo from OSHA Deputy Assistant Layne Davis to OSHA Regional Administrators, field officers for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration must contact OSHA's Enforcement Directorate before issuing a citation of violations of new respiratory protection requirements for tuberculosis. This requirement further enervates a system of safeguards that has been increasingly weakened over the past year.