The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appears to be relaxing its enforcement efforts, with civil penalties declining by half over the Bush administration’s first full fiscal year, according to a new report by the Rockefeller Family Fund's Environmental Integrity Project.

The latest issue of OMB Watch's Executive Report is now available. Articles in this issue include:

• OMB Builds Record of Rollbacks Under the leadership of John Graham, OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is increasingly using its regulatory review authority to weaken or block health, safety, and environmental standards. In this issue, we document OIRA decisions to gut a proposed standard on diesel emissions from large ships and tankers, and weaken a final rule to protect drinking water from hazardous waste.

On Friday, October 25, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mitchell Daniels released the Treasury Department’s summary of the budget results for fiscal year 2002, which ended September 30. According to this report, FY 2002 closed with a $159 billion deficit -- $2 billion larger than the $157 billion the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted in its Monthly Review earlier this month.

Almost two years after President Bush took office, Mark B. McClellan -- a top health policy adviser to the president and brother of White House spokesman Scott McClellan -- has been confirmed to serve as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unlike many Bush appointees who are now responsible for regulating former employers, McClellan has never worked for the pharmaceutical industry. This helped secure the support of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), chair of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the nomination, who reportedly insisted on independence.