On November 21, EPA issued a final rule that absolves pesticide users from obtaining a permit to apply pesticides over or near bodies of water. Today, the Detroit Free Press ran a Gannett News Service story about the ruling, which has been woefully undercovered in the media. The story also has a nice sidebar encapsulating some of the Bush administration's most objectionable deregulation decisions over the past six years; not to mention a pithy quote from OMB Watch Executive Director Gary Bass:

According to the Federal Times, the Dudley nomination may be indefinitely on hold: The nomination of President Bush’s controversial pick to head the government’s regulatory policy office is dead, according to a leading Republican senator. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the committee considering the nomination, said she decided not to bring the nomination of Susan Dudley to a vote this month by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. She said she did this because of the lack of time remaining in this Congress and opposition to Dudley’s nomination from Democrats.

After years of the Department of Energy dragging its feet on producing new energy efficiency standards for appliances, the Natural Resources Defense Council, two low-income consumers groups and 15 states have forced the agency into action through a settlement issued November 13. The lawsuit contended that the Department of Energy was as much as 13 years behind on issuing new standards. Now, under court order, the DOE will be forced to issue new energy efficiency standards on a strict timetable.