A unanimous Supreme Court has held that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) did not violate U.S. environmental law by failing to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS) of increased pollution from allowing Mexican trucks to operate in the United States beyond limited border zones. The Court's decision reversed the opinion of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. That ruling required FMCSA to consider the pollution increase in a full EIS prior to issuing regulations governing applications and safety inspections for Mexican trucks to operate in the United States.

Citizens for Sensible Safeguards released a new report documenting a systematic attack on regulatory protections to a standing-room-only crowd at an event that featured former federal workers who have resigned in protest of that attack. The report, Special Interest Takeover: The Bush Administration and the Dismantling of Public Safeguards, was produced on behalf of Citizens for Sensible Safeguards by OMB Watch and the Center for American Progress.

The House of Representatives voted to pass five bills, four of which threaten workplace safety while the other threatens regulatory safeguards across the board. The anti-regulatory bill, H.R. 2432, authorizes a study of "regulatory budgeting," a project that could ration protections of the public health, safety, and environment by setting an artificial cap of regulatory "costs" that can be imposed. An amendment proposed by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) would have established a panel to study the politicization of science, but it was defeated just before the House voted to pass the bill.

The House may soon consider four bills amending the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which would effectively consolidate White House control over the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and provide leniency to employers at the cost of the health and safety of workers.