As of July 24, agencies are to be in full compliance with President Bush's recent changes to the regulatory process. But the American people remain in the dark in knowing how these changes will influence the way our government operates. A new analysis by OMB Watch reiterates our concerns with the changes, identifies the many questions that remain, and describes Congress's efforts to mitigate their impact through oversight hearings and proposed legislation. Read the analysis: E.O. 13422: Unanswered and Unaccountable

The Associated Press (AP) published a story today noting the decline in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) criminal enforcement of polluters. According to the article, "The number of the Environmental Protection Agency's criminal investigators has dropped this year to 174, below the 200-agent minimum required by Congress, even as the EPA's overall criminal enforcement budget rose nearly 25 percent over three years to $48 million, according to EPA records." Civil settlements, however, which require spending on pollution controls, are increasing.

Residents of Mossville, LA, have three times the level of dioxin in their blood as the national average, and 90 percent of the residents have illnesses that are linked to dioxin exposure. These are conclusions drawn from government data, so the humane, responsible thing for government agencies to do is — nothing.