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Sunday, June 01, 2008

Environment - "Administration Moves to Avert a Rules Rush"

Charlie Savage and Robert Pear have an important, lengthy, front-page story in Saturday's NY Times, headlined "Administration Moves to Avert a Rules Rush." It begins:

The Bush administration has told federal agencies that they have until June 1 to propose any new regulations, a move intended to avoid the rush of rules issued by previous administrations on their way out the door.

The White House has also declared that it will generally not allow agencies to issue any final regulations after Nov. 1, nearly three months before President Bush relinquishes power.

While the White House called the deadlines “simply good government,” some legal specialists said the policy would ensure that rules the administration wanted to be part of Mr. Bush’s legacy would be less subject to being overturned by his successor. Moreover, they said, the deadlines could allow the administration to avoid thorny proposals that are likely to come up in the next few months, including environmental and safety rules that have been in the regulatory pipeline for years.

Many regulations do not take effect until 60 days after they have been issued, and a new president can try to postpone or revise them. After Mr. Bush took office in 2001, for example, he froze hundreds of pending regulations issued by the administration of Bill Clinton.

Mr. Clinton, in turn, had imposed a similar moratorium on last-minute regulations issued by the first President Bush.

Many officials in government agencies said they were caught unaware by the White House’s order, issued May 9.

Some officials described a flurry of activity as they sought to get proposals approved for publication in the Federal Register by June 1.

A graphic accompanying the story, titled "Regulations in the Pipeline," lists "a few potenital new regulations under consideration" and how they would be impacted by the June 1 deadline. Those which will be published in the Federal Register by June 1, according to the graphic, include: Allow Montaintop Mining and Allow Loaded Handguns in National Parks. Those which would miss the cut-off include: Limit Greenhouse Gas Emissions as the Supreme Court Ordered EPA to Consider in 2007.

On Another Note. Some readers may note from the byline that Fort Wayne native Charlie Savage, formerly of the Boston Globe, is now writing for the NY Times. The New York Observer reported May 8th:

A day after the Times announced that there will be layoffs--perhaps around 15--the paper has picked up a star: Charlie Savage, a Pulitzer-winner on his coverage of Bush-Cheney White House, is moving to Dean Baquet's Washington bureau.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 1, 2008 12:17 PM
Posted to Environment