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.

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.

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.

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.