Bush administration officials are changing their tune on two controversial regulations that would have weakened existing air pollution controls. According to both the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA will not finalize a rule to allow more power plant pollution near national parks and a rule changing how pollution is measured under the Clean Air Act's New Source Review program.

Today, the USA Today editorial board and White House spokesman Tony Fratto duke it out over the issue of midnight regulations. USA Today takes aim at many pending and recently finalized Bush administration regulations stating, "Some of the rules look like favors to Bush allies in energy, mining or other industries; others track his ideology on guns or abortion." USA Today surmises the White House's motivation for the Bolten memo, issued in May 2008:

The Justice Department has sided with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on an intra-governmental dispute between EPA and the Department of Defense over toxic cleanup. For more than a year the Pentagon has ignored the instructions of EPA to clean up toxic sites at military bases. EPA issued final orders demanding the sites be cleaned up. EPA says the three most controversial clean-up sites (Maguire Air Force Base in New Jersey, Fort Meade in Maryland, and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida) may present "an imminent and substantial threat" to public health and the environment.

More bad news on the midnight regulations front. A pending rule that would change the way the federal government enforces the Endangered Species Act has become even more controversial.