On November 21, EPA issued a final rule that absolves pesticide users from obtaining a permit to apply pesticides over or near bodies of water. Today, the Detroit Free Press ran a Gannett News Service story about the ruling, which has been woefully undercovered in the media. The story also has a nice sidebar encapsulating some of the Bush administration's most objectionable deregulation decisions over the past six years; not to mention a pithy quote from OMB Watch Executive Director Gary Bass:

According to the Federal Times, the Dudley nomination may be indefinitely on hold: The nomination of President Bush’s controversial pick to head the government’s regulatory policy office is dead, according to a leading Republican senator. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the committee considering the nomination, said she decided not to bring the nomination of Susan Dudley to a vote this month by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. She said she did this because of the lack of time remaining in this Congress and opposition to Dudley’s nomination from Democrats.

Prompted by pressure from industry, USDA has backed away from requiring ranchers to ID livestock in a federal database. The database was proposed last year in order to allow the agency to quickly track and stop the spread of disease between animals as well as disease spread from animals to humans. Currently, 23 percent of farms are voluntarily registered in the program. In April, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced a timetable and implementation plan for the ID system, calling for all farms to be registered by 2009.

The new Cindy Skrzycki column bodes well for federal oversight in the next Congress: Some of the new masters of oversight are eager to get to work. [Pending Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Rep. James] Oberstar's agenda includes tightening port security and improving the operations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, much maligned for its Hurricane Katrina performance.