Administration Advances Few Health, Safety and Environmental Protections

January 2003 Update The Bush administration has advanced very few significant health, safety and environmental protections over the last two years -- much fewer than the two previous administrations -- and is quietly scuttling work on a host of protective standards in the regulatory pipeline, according to data compiled by OMB Watch.

read in full

Proposed Forest Rule Creates NEPA Loophole

A new U.S. Forest Service rule would grant an exemption to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain small timber sales. The rule, which was proposed last week, would allow timber projects to eschew environmental assessments and impact statements -- normally required under NEPA -- provided that the project area poses a risk of wildfire or contains insect-infested or diseased trees.

read in full

EPA-OMB Collaboration on Diesel Moves Forward

In an “unusual collaboration,” EPA and OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) are drafting new standards to restrict emissions from off-road diesel-powered vehicles, such as bulldozers and tractors. According to the Washington Post, EPA expects to issue a proposed rule next spring that will require emissions to be reduced by as much as 95 percent, in line with recently adopted standards for heavy-duty trucks.

read in full

OMB Initiates Sweeping Review of Regulation

OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is instructing federal agencies to evaluate hundreds of regulatory recommendations submitted by outside parties as part of its new annual report on the costs and benefits of regulation.

read in full

New Fuel Efficiency Standard for SUVs Falls Short

The National Highway and Transportation Administration (NHTSA) recently proposed a new -- but unfortunately, weak -- fuel efficiency standard for light trucks and sports utility vehicles that will achieve minimal pollution reductions.

read in full

Court Reinstates 'Roadless Rule'

On December 12, a federal appeals court in California reinstated a Clinton-era rule that protects nearly 60 million acres of national forests from logging and road construction. The decision lifts an injunction issued by a federal judge in Idaho, who in May of 2001, found the rule would cause “irreparable harm” to the timber industry. The Bush administration declined to appeal this ruling, and in fact, seemed to embrace it. However, a coalition of environmental groups, led by Earthjustice, intervened and won a strong rebuke to the injunction.

read in full

Administration Issues Weak Rule on Livestock Waste

Answering a court-imposed deadline, the Bush administration issued a weak final rule to limit runoff from livestock waste at large factory farms, which produce 220 billion gallons of liquefied manure each year. The rule waters down a previous Clinton-era proposal, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Washington Post, by reducing the number of affected operations by more than half; allowing factory farms to write their own permit conditions; and limiting the liability of major corporations for illegal spills by their subcontractors.

read in full

Bush Signs E-Government Bill

President Bush signed legislation on December 17 that pushes the federal government to provide greater Internet access to information and services, authorizing $345 million over the next four years for an e-government fund. The bill, spearheaded by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), marks the first comprehensive effort aimed directly at dealing with electronic information, covering a wide range of issues from information security and disaster preparedness to the digital divide and government employee training to information management and dissemination. Click here for a complete summary.

read in full

Bush Administration Proposes to Gut Forest Protection Rule

Two days before Thanksgiving the Bush administration quietly approved a proposal that would gut current forest protection regulations by removing requirements to protect forest wildlife and ecology, and by eliminating the requirement of an analysis that serves as the key mechanism for informing the public of the environmental impacts of forest management plans, among other de-regulatory changes to the rule. USDA will be accepting comments on the proposed rule for 90 days. You can send comments opposing the rollback of this rule, through OMB Watch's Activist Central service.

read in full

EPA Rolls Back Clean Air Protections

The Bush administration announced on November 22 that it is rolling back protections to limit air pollution from factories, refineries and power plants as part of a long-expected overhaul of EPA’s New Source Review program. Specifically, EPA issued a final rule that:

    read in full

    Pages

    Subscribe to Setting and Enforcing Regulations (Articles and Blog Posts)