by Denis Campbell
Leaving Paulson’s inept Treasury robbery aside for a moment, we’ve read about the slew of Bush Administration’s last minute regulatory rule changes… or have we? It’s a scary list and growing daily it seems. Simply, this corporate rape of the land and the environment must be stopped.
There is one website that is must reading and it will give you sleepless nights. /
The steady stream of lobbyists heading into the New Executive Office Building with their Christmas wish lists, gives pork a bad name. Most come into affect on the last day of the Bush Administration.
The biggies:
• Mountaintop Mining: Rule would allow mining companies to dump waste into rivers and streams.
• Endangered Species Act: Rule would alter implementation of ESA to allow federal land-use managers to approve projects (like infrastructure creation, minerals extraction, or logging) without consulting federal habitat managers and biological health experts responsible for species protection.
• Power Plants near National Parks: Environmental Protection Agency rule would ease current restrictions that make it difficult for power plants to operate near national parks and wilderness areas, which could increase air pollution in those areas.
• Truck Driver Safety: Department of Transportation rule will allow truck drivers to drive up to 11 consecutive hours and to spend seven consecutive days on the road with only a 34-hour break. Public Citizen and other safety advocates have sued successfully two times in the past three years to overturn this Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rule.
• On-the-Job-Risk: Department of Labor rule would change the way federal regulators calculate estimates for on-the-job risks, and add an extra comment period to new worker health standards, creating a delay.
• Family and Medical Leave: Department of Labor rule would limit employee access to family and medical leave — making it more difficult for workers to use paid vacation or personal time to take leave, and would allow employers to speak directly to an employee’s health care provider.
• Domestic Surveillance: Department of Justice Rule would expand the power of state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate potential criminal activities and report the information to federal agencies. It would broaden the scope of activities authorities could monitor to include organizations as well as individuals, along with non-criminal activities that are deemed “suspicious.”
But Wait, There’s More:
- EPA Won’t Regulate a Contaminate in Drinking Water
- Uranium Mining near Grand Canyon
- OSHA and DOL Loosen Guidelines for Risk of Exposure to Workplace Toxins
- Federally Funded Institutions Could Turn Down Abortion Requests for Moral or Religious Reasons
- DOL Addresses Conflicts of Interests in the Pension Protection Act
- Revisions to TANF Could Cut Funding to Families in Need
- Public Lands May Be Leased for the Development of Oil Shale
- Fisheries Rule Calls for Less Public Input
- EPA Lowers Air Quality Standards for Lead
- Loaded Guns Possible in National Parks
- HIV/AIDS Prevention Groups Would Be Subject to New Qualifying Rules
- EPA Lets Factory Farms Decide If They Need A Permit to Discharge Animal Waste into Waterways
- Sex Trafficking Victims Could Lose Aid Funds
- FDA Provides Guidance to Drug Companies for Marketing Off-Label Use of an FDA-Approved Drug
- Interior Rules Could Limit Public Environmental Comments
- Less Reporting of Animal Air Pollution Proposed
- Rules on Dumping of Mine Debris Eased
- Many Wetlands Cases Fell Through Enforcement Cracks
- New Regs for Fast Tracking Federal Review of Capital Cases
- Some Power Plants Could Be Exempted from Installing Pollution Controls
- EPA Narrows the Definition of Solid Waste
55 Days until this crowd is shown the door.
