Today, Jan. 14, marks day 90 of the White House’s review of EPA’s proposed coal ash regulation. As I blogged on Monday, the rule has been discussed at dozens of meetings featuring the EPA, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), and various stakeholders. My updated count has industry stakeholders at 22 meetings and environmental stakeholders at four.

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a revision to the national air quality standard for ozone, a.k.a. smog. EPA is proposing to tighten the primary standard to a level somewhere between 0.060 and 0.070 ppm (parts per million), down from the current standard of 0.075 ppm set in 2008. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA must set the primary standard at a level protective of public health.

There’s no time like the holidays – when packages are wrapped up tight with paper only to be torn apart – to talk about paperwork. That’s why OMB Watch has submitted to the White House comments on improving implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act.