The Washington Post ran an article about a last minute push by political appointees at the Department of Labor
to push through ... a rule making it tougher to regulate workers' on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins.
The way I understand it is, that this means that to add any rule about this exposure in the future there will be extra steps to take, specifically with the risk-assessment process.
This is a department that has a very poor track record, with only one major rule adopted during these G.W. Bush years. The real kicker on this issue, there was a court order to enact this one rule.
The article in the Washington Post is entitled: U.S. Rushes to Change Workplace Toxin Rules. This is fairly long article, but I would recommend reading it, if you have an interest in labor issues. Link
The proper procedures have not even been followed with this proposal.
The agency did not disclose the proposal, as required, in public notices of regulatory plans that it filed in December and May. Instead, Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao's intention to push for the rule first surfaced on July 7, when the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) posted on its Web site that it was reviewing the proposal, identified only by its nine-word title.
There has been reaction by many interested parties, so I am surprised there has been nothing on this here at Daily Kos, at least none that I found with the searches I ran.
But the fast-track approach has brought criticism from workplace-safety advocates, unions and Democrats in Congress. Some accuse the Bush administration of working secretly to give industry a parting gift that will help it delay or block safety regulations after President Bush leaves office.
Not surprisingly, businesses are the beneficiaries of the proposed new rules.
The change would address long-standing complaints from businesses that the government overestimates the risk posed by job exposure to chemicals.
Apparently, the subject of the proposed rule is not usually even the addressed by the Department of Labor, but is something OSHA would handle.
Charles Gordon, a recently retired Labor Department lawyer who worked on regulations in OSHA's solicitor's office for 32 years, said the policy office does not usually take the lead on rules involving risk assessments. "Normally, issues of health science like risk assessment are performed by OSHA and MSHA, that have statutory authority and expertise in the area," Gordon said.
At the time the article was published, the draft of the proposed rule had not been made public.
Does the Department of Labor staff know they are paid by our taxes to do their jobs? It is beyond my comprehension that this kind of stuff is what they produce (or should that be what they do not produce). Sadly, this sounds like just another one of the Bush loyalty over competence situations.
Update: Thanks to luckylizard for this information: There is a diary by Chairman George Miller that has further information on this topic, found here.