Upon taking office, the Bush administration reconsidered a host of Clinton-era health, safety and environmental protections. Many were weakened or revoked, but some were ultimately allowed to stand, including standards for asenic in drinking water, lead reporting, and black lung claims. OMB Watch provides a list of safeguards moving forward. Arsenic in Drinking Water. At first the administration seemed intent on repealing the Clinton-era standard for arsenic in drinking water, set at 10 parts per billion (ppb). But EPA was all but forced to move forward after substantial political backlash, a House and Senate vote supporting the rule, and a report from the National Academy of Sciences that found EPA had greatly underestimated the cancer risks of arsenic in drinking water. On Oct. 31, 2001, EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman announced the agency's decision to keep the Clinton standard, which mirrors the international standard advised by the World Health Organization. On Feb. 22, 2002, the new arsenic standard became effective; systems must comply by Jan. 23, 2006. Emissions from Long-Haul Diesel Trucks. This standard grew out of a consent decree in 1998 between the Clinton administration and seven leading tucking companies, which for years unlawfully deceived the government about compliance with clean air regulations. Several of these companies (Cummins Inc. and Mack Trucks Inc.) have been able to develop technology to meet the new requirements, which are expected to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide by 1.2 million tons within a year, and have argued, successfully, that the administration move forward. Recordkeeping for Workplace Injuries. This rule, which was challenged in a lawsuit brought by the National Association of Manufacturers, updates OSHA forms used by employers to list and detail workplace injuries and illnesses. The rule went into effect on January 1, 2002, but as part of a settlement with NAM, OSHA agreed not to cite violations within the first 120 days of the rule. On Dec. 17, 2002, OSHA issued a final rule delaying the effective date of the hearing loss and ergonomics provisions of the rule -- which were to take effect Jan. 1, 2003 -- until Jan. 1, 2004. Black Lung. On Aug. 9, 2001, U.S. District Court Judge Emmett G. Sullivan rejected all of the National Mining Association's (NMA) challenges to numerous provisions of new black lung rules, marking a major victory for the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and the Department of Labor, which defended the standards. The court's ruling came after the Bush administration consented to an injunction of the black lung rules at the request of the NMA earlier in the year. The coal industry appealed the District Court's decision but was defeated yet again when a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals decision, June 14, 2002, affirmed the rules, which are designed to ease the federal disability claims process for black lung victims. Steel Erection Safety On July 17, 2001, OSHA announced that it would delay the effective date of a rule that protects iron workers from the dangers of steel erection work, in particular falls from great heights, by six months to January 18, 2002 (a notice appeared in the Federal Register on July 17). This decision reportedly responded to a letter from the Associated General Contractors of America. On November 21, 2001, OSHA posted a draft compliance directive for the steel erection standard on its site and issued a revised compliance directive on March 22, 2002. The rule went into effect on January 18, 2002, although OSHA's first scheduled inspections were not due to begin until March 19, 2002. According to OSHA, the rule is expected to prevent 30 deaths and 1,142 injuries a year, and save employers nearly $40 million annually. Lead Reporting. The Bush administration approved a new rule on April 17, 2001, that requires thousands of industrial facilities to report toxic lead pollution released to air, land and water. The new rule -- finalized by EPA at the end of the Clinton administration -- lowers the threshold for reporting lead discharges under the Toxics Release Inventory. Energy Conservation. On April 12, 2001, the administration announced that it would proceed with two Clinton-era energy conservation rules on washing machines and hot water heaters. Washing machines are to become 22 percent more efficient by 2004 and 35 percent by 2007 -- a standard supported by the appliance industry. Gas water heaters are to be 8 percent more efficient and electric water heaters 4 percent beginning in 2004. Salmonella in School Lunches. On April 4, 2001, the Bush Dept. of Agriculture announced its intent to eliminate salmonella testing of ground beef served in federal school lunch programs, which had been pushed by the meat industry. Less than 24 hours later, however, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced that a mistake was made by a “low level” employee, and that the testing, which began under President Clinton, would remain in place. Mine Reporting of Toxic Releases. On Oct. 10, 2002, EPA denied a petition from the National Mining Association (NMA), requesting an expansion of an existing exemption, which excludes unconsolidated loose material (such as loose soil, sand and gravel) from Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting. The NMA requested that consolidated material (such as consolidated rock surrounding an ore body or part of the ore body itself) also be excluded from TRI. Mining operations must continue to estimate and report quantities of TRI chemicals that could potentially be released into the environment from unconsolidated overburden. Hard-rock mining companies are the nation's largest toxic polluters.