In law school, I took a course called Administrative Law. It was all about the federal regulatory and "rule making" process, an area of our government that 90% of our citizens probably know little to nothing about. The regulatory process, however, has such a profound effect on our daily lives, however, it is often termed as the "fourth branch" of our government. It's not as sexy as legislation, or court decisions, but probably more profound that either.
We've known for some time that the Bush administration has decimated many of the regulations of the Clinton years since Bush's time in office. But now, nothing short of a massive rape to environmental protections and consumer regulations is quietly underway prior to Bush leaving office.
On the front page of today's Washington Post are all the sordid details.
The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.
The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.
Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.
As you might imagine, the floodgates have been opened to the powerful lobbies that have a vested interest in seeing some of these regulations put into place:
The burst of activity has made this a busy period for lobbyists who fear that industry views will hold less sway after the elections. The doors at the New Executive Office Building have been whirling with corporate officials and advisers pleading for relief or, in many cases, for hastened decision making.
A lot of these regulations are specifically targeted at repealing environmental protections:
A rule put forward by the National Marine Fisheries Service and now under final review by the OMB would lift a requirement that environmental impact statements be prepared for certain fisheries-management decisions and would give review authority to regional councils dominated by commercial and recreational fishing interests...
Lee Crockett of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Environment Group said the administration has received 194,000 public comments on the rule and protests from 80 members of Congress as well as 160 conservation groups. "This thing is fatally flawed" as well as "wildly unpopular," Crockett said.
Two other rules nearing completion would ease limits on pollution from power plants, a major energy industry goal for the past eight years that is strenuously opposed by Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups.
One rule, being pursued over some opposition within the Environmental Protection Agency, would allow current emissions at a power plant to match the highest levels produced by that plant, overturning a rule that more strictly limits such emission increases. According to the EPA's estimate, it would allow millions of tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, worsening global warming.
A related regulation would ease limits on emissions from coal-fired power plants near national parks.
A third rule would allow increased emissions from oil refineries, chemical factories and other industrial plants with complex manufacturing operations.
Folks, this is as serious as it gets. Once a rule is put into place, it can take months to repeal, because a new regulation needs to be proposed, and the public comment period needs to go into effect, before the rule can effect.
If you ever needed MORE of a reason to elect Obama this Tuesday, this is it. Forget the economy, or foreign policy. The executive will control the future of regulation for the next four years, guaranteed.
And the guarantee I can give you is that if McCain is elected, there is no way in hell this new round of Bush deregulation will ever be repealed.
Obama will have to undo what Bush has done in so many ways, and it's going to start with these regulations. Bush is pushing through more of these in his final days than his daddy did, or Clinton did. And Bush has already repealed most of Clinton's last minute regulations that actually protected the environment and consumers.
Don't let them rape our government any further. Leave it all on the road.
UPDATE: Major hatip to Wintermute who had an earlier diary on this subject.