Setting and Enforcing Regulations

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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An Assault on Public Protections: Regulatory Policy News in 2008

The federal government's ability — and sometimes inability — to protect the public drew national attention throughout 2008. President Bush's and senior administration officials' aversion to regulation and their penchant for allowing the market to operate unchecked appeared more and more outmoded in the face of the collapse of the financial market, the rising tide of dangerous imported products, and persistent examples of environmental degradation.

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New Bush Rule Allows Guns in National Parks

Dec 5, 2008 by Matthew Madia

It's Friday afternoon, and since everyone is at happy hour and no one reads the paper on Saturday, it's the perfect time for the Bush administration to do things it doesn't want you to find out about. That is why the Department of the Interior chose today to announce that it will lift the 25-year-old ban on carrying loaded weapons in national parks. This sop to the gun rights lobby is among many regulations Bush is finalizing as his time in office expires.

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Mountaintop Mining Rule Nearing Completion

Dec 4, 2008 by Matthew Madia

The Bush administration has nearly finalized a dastardly rule that will make it legal for mining operations to dump the waste generated during mountaintop mining (tons of rock and dirt) into rivers and streams, in some cases destroying them completely.

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Endangered Species Rule Sealing Bush Legacy on Warming

Nov 21, 2008 by Matthew Madia

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.

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Bush Changes to Employee Leave among First Midnight Rules

The Department of Labor has finalized a new rule that will affect the way workers take medical and family leave. It is among the first of many rules the Bush administration is expected to cement in the coming weeks.

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Panel Sends Regulatory Recommendations to Obama, Congress

On Nov. 14, a panel of regulatory experts released a report calling for significant changes to the federal regulatory process. The recommendations are directed to President-elect Obama and the new Congress and are designed to achieve a more effective, efficient, and timely process that is now burdened with excessive requirements and assessments.

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Last-Minute Rule Allows More Dirty Oil Production

Nov 17, 2008 by Matthew Madia

The Interior Department today announced a final rule that will open almost 2 million acres of land in Western states to oil shale development. Environmentalists say oil shale development, which involves extracting liquid oil from solid rock by heating it, increases greenhouse gas emissions and requires intensive water use. Interior's Bureau of Land Management fast-tracked the rule when it realized a ban on oil shale development was set to expire. Congress failed to renew the ban which expired Oct. 1.

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New Rule Likely to Cut Health Care for the Poor

Nov 10, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Bush administration is continuing its push to finalize hundreds of new regulations in an effort to cement its legacy before the new administration takes power on Jan. 20 next year. Also called "midnight regulations," these rules tend to get rammed through the regulatory review process before the lights go out on an administration, regardless of process violations or self-imposed cutoffs.

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Midnight at the White House: Bush Using Rules to Cement Legacy

The Bush administration is working on a spate of rules it hopes to finalize before its time in power expires. The last-minute rules cover a broad range of policy, but many share a common trait: relaxing existing requirements on businesses. The Bush administration appears to be pushing to deregulate in areas like environmental protection, worker leave, and auto safety. Many of the controversial rules are expected to be finalized in the coming weeks. The administration is pushing to finalize rules in November, not January, in order to assure they cannot be undone by the next president.

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Watching out for Midnight Regulations

Nov 3, 2008 by Matthew Madia

Reg•Watch has been following the phenomenon known as "midnight regulation" where an administration finalizes lots of rules in its waning days of power. Below is a list of many of the more controversial rules worth watching. Reg•Watch will provide regular updates to this list.