In March, Reg•Watch blogged about Julie MacDonald, one of the Bush administration's political minions who was manipulating environmental science to meet political ends. Yesterday, the Interior Department announced MacDonald's resignation. Interior is right to hold MacDonald accountable for her transgressions, but, as The New York Times reports, the move comes as the House Natural Resources Committee prepares to hold an oversight hearing next week on scientific integrity.

The Federal Register has published the semi-annual Unified Regulatory Agenda. Browse today's issue to find the planned regulatory (or deregulatory) actions of your favorite federal agency! The Unified Regulatory Agenda is published twice a year in compliance with Executive Order 12866 — Regulatory Planning and Review. The Agenda includes prerules, proposed rules, final rules, and long-term rules as well as items completed or withdrawn since the last agenda period. For more background on the Agenda, click here. For OMB Watch's analysis of the last Agenda (Dec. 2006), click here.

Last night, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) issued a memo instructing agencies on how to implement President Bush's recent changes to the regulatory process. The memo was the first missive by newly minted OIRA administrator Susan Dudley.

Not to be outdone by Alberto Gonzales, Stephen Johnson appeared before the Senate yesterday and achieved new levels of obstinacy. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee questioned Johnson, the administrator of EPA, about the Supreme Court's recent ruling affirming the agency can regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. The legislation instructs EPA to regulate harmful air pollutants.