New Source Review rule hinders enforcement

EPA's own Inspector General has released a report revealing that the New Source Review regulations (a regulatory rollback, discussed here, that essentially trades our clean air for the economic gain of power companies) are weakening EPA's enforcement activities: According to key enforcement officials, the NSR rule change is so dramatic that it has impacted OECA’s ongoing litigation, out-of-court settlements, and ne

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Graham -- let's flesh this out a bit

Just can't let this go. The Graham profile in the Seattle Times is so broad that it may not be immediately apparent the extent to which Graham has set back regulatory policy and kept the agencies from serving the public interest. Here are some of those missing details:
  • OMB Role in Fuel Economy Change Exposed
  • Administration Asks Manufacturers for Regulatory Hit List
  • GAO Finds OMB Regulatory Review Not Well Documented
  • Graham Advises Agencies on Valuing Lives of Seniors
  • OMB Waters Down Standards on Factory-Farm Runoff

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Graham in the news

In case you missed it, the Seattle Times has a story today about John Graham, head of the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. It is a broad profile of Graham's work in that office. For more details on his history and the "intellectual" underpinnings of his approach to his work in this administration, be sure to check out an excellent analysis put out by Public Citizen when Graham was nominated for the job. PubCit carefully documented a history of Graham taking corporate money and -- surprise!

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A record of destroying needed protections: yet more proof

The latest evidence of the Bush administration's pattern of failing the public comes from the Heritage Foundation, no less. The kind folks at Heritage have actually quantified the rollback:

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More news on Bush environmental record

In case you missed it: Saturday's Washington Post featured an in-depth look at the Bush administration's environmental record. Check out "Oil and Gas Hold the Reins in the Wild West: Land-Use Decisions Largely Favor Energy Industry," Washington Post, Sept. 25, 2004, at A1. This article, like other comprehensive retrospective analyses in the press of the Bush administration regulatory record, is listed and linked here on our website.

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Dietary guidelines and something called Data "Quality"

The other day we mentioned new, weakened dietary guidelines that seem to promote industry interests over the public interest. In case you missed it: the weakening of the dietary guidelines can be traced back to a Data Quality Act challenge filed by industry-funded think tank Center for Regulatory Effectiveness. Check out this article from the OMB Watch Information and Access team, which also links you to information you'll need if you want to share your thoughts on the guidelines (deadline 9/27). Learn more about the Data Quality Act here.

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Say bye-bye to the bull trout...

Remember the bull trout? The administration pulled some chicanery a while back and produced a cost-benefit analysis of plans to save the bull trout's habitat... but eliminated all references to benefits from the final report. Well, surprise, surprise: the new recovery plan "would sharply reduce the amount of federally designated critical habitat for the threatened bull trout in three Western states and eliminate federal requirements for such habitat in Montana," according to the AP. Adds the (Bend) Bulletin:

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Oceans in peril, and Bush admin. wants to make things worse

Don't miss the latest analysis from U.S. PIRG: "Bush Receives Final Report from U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy: Administration Ignoring Science and Undercutting Ocean Protections." Here's an excerpt: The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, a panel appointed by President Bush, today issued its final report stating that the oceans are in peril and overfishing is a primary factor contributing to the collapse of entire ocean ecosystems. Today's report comes even as the Bush administration is actively seeking to weaken federal standards that protect fish populations from overfishing.

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Cost-benefit analysis: still so very wrong

Three studies were widely reported in the press and converted into political and scholarly gospel for what they purportedly proved with unassailable quantitative analysis: that government regulation of the public interest is ultimately irrational, as regulations’ costs exponentially outpaced their benefits. In more recent years, Professors Lisa Heinzerling and Richard Parker have scrutinized those studies, claim by claim, number by number, and discovered methodological flaws and biases so severe that the studies should be dumped on the junk science trash heap once and for all.

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House Votes to Save Overtime

The House of Representatives defied a White House veto threat and voted 223-193 in favor of the Obey amendment, which effectively overturns Department of Labor regulations that threatened the overtime rights of 6 million workers.

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