President Bush issued an executive order on September 18 that directs federal agencies to speed environmental reviews for major transportation projects.

The Bush administration has turned back the clock with John Graham in place as head of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which as an arm of the White House has the authority to review and possibly reject or amend new agency regulations. Graham, whose nomination was overwhelmingly opposed by the environmental community, labor unions, and public health advocates, has moved swiftly to create new barriers to health, safety, and environmental protections, and to assert centralized control over regulatory policy at OIRA. Subverting Congress

Over the course of the Bush administration, OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which reviews and must approve all major regulatory proposals, has changed 53 out of 85 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules, 100 out of 157 rules from Health & Human Services (HHS), and 24 out of 30 Dept. of Labor (DOL) rules.

In an effort well outside the scope of its traditional activities, the Office of Management and Budget is reviewing an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on children’s health before publication -- the first time, to our knowledge, OMB has ever involved itself in the shaping of a scientific study.