George Bush Pushes Midnight MalRegulations in final days

[Comrade Tortoise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/de ... egulations

Bush sneaks through host of laws to undermine Obama
The lame-duck Republican team is rushing through radical measures, from coal waste dumping to power stations in national parks, that will take months to overturn, reports Paul Harris in New York
Comments (82)

After spending eight years at the helm of one of the most ideologically driven administrations in American history, George W. Bush is ending his presidency in characteristically aggressive fashion, with a swath of controversial measures designed to reward supporters and enrage opponents.

By the time he vacates the White House, he will have issued a record number of so-called 'midnight regulations' - so called because of the stealthy way they appear on the rule books - to undermine the administration of Barack Obama, many of which could take years to undo.

Dozens of new rules have already been introduced which critics say will diminish worker safety, pollute the environment, promote gun use and curtail abortion rights. Many rules promote the interests of large industries, such as coal mining or energy, which have energetically supported Bush during his two terms as president. More are expected this week.

America's attention is focused on the fate of the beleaguered car industry, still seeking backing in Washington for a multi-billion-dollar bail-out. But behind the scenes, the 'midnight' rules are being rushed through with little fanfare and minimal media attention. None of them would be likely to appeal to the incoming Obama team.

The regulations cover a vast policy area, ranging from healthcare to car safety to civil liberties. Many are focused on the environment and seek to ease regulations that limit pollution or restrict harmful industrial practices, such as dumping strip-mining waste.

The Bush moves have outraged many watchdog groups. 'The regulations we have seen so far have been pretty bad,' said Matt Madia, a regulatory policy analyst at OMB Watch. 'The effects of all this are going to be severe.'

Bush can pass the rules because of a loophole in US law allowing him to put last-minute regulations into the Code of Federal Regulations, rules that have the same force as law. He can carry out many of his political aims without needing to force new laws through Congress. Outgoing presidents often use the loophole in their last weeks in office, but Bush has done this far more than Bill Clinton or his father, George Bush sr. He is on track to issue more 'midnight regulations' than any other previous president.

Many of these are radical and appear to pay off big business allies of the Republican party. One rule will make it easier for coal companies to dump debris from strip mining into valleys and streams. The process is part of an environmentally damaging technique known as 'mountain-top removal mining'. It involves literally removing the top of a mountain to excavate a coal seam and pouring the debris into a valley, which is then filled up with rock. The new rule will make that dumping easier.

Another midnight regulation will allow power companies to build coal-fired power stations nearer to national parks. Yet another regulation will allow coal-fired stations to increase their emissions without installing new anti-pollution equipment.

The Environmental Defence Fund has called the moves a 'fire sale of epic size for coal'. Other environmental groups agree. 'The only motivation for some of these rules is to benefit the business interests that the Bush administration has served,' said Ed Hopkins, a director of environmental quality at the Sierra Club. A case in point would seem to be a rule that opens up millions of acres of land to oil shale extraction, which environmental groups say is highly pollutant.

There is a long list of other new regulations that have gone onto the books. One lengthens the number of hours that truck drivers can drive without rest. Another surrenders government control of rerouting the rail transport of hazardous materials around densely populated areas and gives it to the rail companies.

One more chips away at the protection of endangered species. Gun control is also weakened by allowing loaded and concealed guns to be carried in national parks. Abortion rights are hit by allowing healthcare workers to cite religious or moral grounds for opting out of carrying out certain medical procedures.

A common theme is shifting regulation of industry from government to the industries themselves, essentially promoting self-regulation. One rule transfers assessment of the impact of ocean-fishing away from federal inspectors to advisory groups linked to the fishing industry. Another allows factory farms to self-regulate disposal of pollutant run-off.

The White House denies it is sabotaging the new administration. It says many of the moves have been openly flagged for months. The spate of rules is going to be hard for Obama to quickly overcome. By issuing them early in the 'lame duck' period of office, the Bush administration has mostly dodged 30- or 60-day time limits that would have made undoing them relatively straightforward.

Obama's team will have to go through a more lengthy process of reversing them, as it is forced to open them to a period of public consulting. That means that undoing the damage could take months or even years, especially if corporations go to the courts to prevent changes.

At the same time, the Obama team will have a huge agenda on its plate as it inherits the economic crisis. Nevertheless, anti-midnight regulation groups are lobbying Obama's transition team to make sure Bush's new rules are changed as soon as possible. 'They are aware of this. The transition team has a list of things they want to undo,' said Madia.
Final reckoning

Bush's midnight regulations will:

• Make it easier for coal companies to dump waste from strip-mining into valleys and streams.

• Ease the building of coal-fired power stations nearer to national parks.

• Allow people to carry loaded and concealed weapons in national parks.

• Open up millions of acres to mining for oil shale.

• Allow healthcare workers to opt out of giving treatment for religious or moral reasons, thus weakening abortion rights.

• Hurt road safety by allowing truck drivers to stay at the wheel for 11 consecutive hours.

Oh. My. Fucking. God. You can expect a good sized rant about this shit later

[frigidmagi]

• Allow people to carry loaded and concealed weapons in national parks.

Wasn't this done a while ago? In any rate this specific one doesn't bother me. The others, AYI!

[rhoenix]

I quite honestly don't understand. Is this the Bush administration's way of basically flinging shit in every direction possible, hoping Obama can't overcome at least some of the things they're doing, just so Republicans can pin these on him during Obama's term? Am I getting their logic behind this right?

[frigidmagi]

Is this the Bush administration's way of basically flinging shit in every direction possible,

Not quiet, alot of this stuff is things they wanted all along but the political damage of doing so was to much. Now... Well things can't get much worse for them can it?

hoping Obama can't overcome at least some of the things they're doing,

Pretty much yes. It's the Zerg Rush of law making. If we stuff enough of these into the legal code, then some of them have to get past!

just so Republicans can pin these on him during Obama's term?

More like make him expend political capital, time and effort to get rid of them instead of passing the reforms he's promised. They really don't want those reforms Rhoenix. Which is frankly one of the reasons I jumped ship (although there is an arguement that people like me didn't jump ship, we were pushed).

[General Havoc]

(although there is an arguement that people like me didn't jump ship, we were pushed).

... more like bodily thrown off the ship by a screaming mob armed with pitchforks and shotguns.

At least in my case.

[SirNitram]

Allow healthcare workers to opt out of giving treatment for religious or moral reasons, thus weakening abortion rights.

See, it's bad enough this is a blatantly transparent ploy to let anti-choicers to deny basic care(Especially now that the movement's propaganda is now encompassing oral birth control more and more), but there's side effects.

If your religion says no blood transfusions? You can still be a qualified surgeon, nurse, or tech now, and deny people blood they need all you desire.

Your New Age crap says vaccines are baaaaaad? No punishment if you scold a mother for daring to get such!

Some groups even disagree with anastetic.

[Comrade Tortoise]

I promised you guys a rant. You are getting a rant.

I hope this son of a bitch contracts Flesh Eating disease on his ranch in Crawford, and has to have both his legs amputated at the hip to keep horrific necrosis from spreading past his extremities.

• Make it easier for coal companies to dump waste from strip-mining into valleys and streams.

Our wetlands and watersheds are already rapidly vanishing. Here! Let's remove mountains and dump the rubble into a nice valley with its nice clean drainage system. Oh, and because that water is going to go somewhere, let it leach heavy metals and other wonderful toxins like mercury and selenium into the water table to flow into larger river system! Oh yes this sounds like a fucking great idea!

Oh and when we create the sludge ponds, we of course need to reduce the regulations that make sure they dont break open of flood, killing essentially all life for hundreds of miles down hill, drowning it in billions of gallons of poisonous sludge, and contaminating human water supplies! Surely we can trust that cute little fox to guard our hen house! After all, the leveled mountain tops being invaded by non-native plants are great habitat for game animals, the hunting tags for which will bring in great revenue for state government. :luv:

• Ease the building of coal-fired power stations nearer to national parks.

Hey! So long as we are on the subject of coal, even clean coal is anything but! All they do with clean coal is sequester the exhaust CO2 underground. The rest of the pollutants from combustion are essentially placed in open pits, and all the heavy metals can leach into the surrounding soil and water table when it rains. Have you ever seen a horse step out of its own hooves due to Selenium poisoning. It is rather grotesque, and that is in the early stages of toxicity, as the selenium replaces the sulfur in the proteins!

To say nothing of mercury, arsenic, chromium HUZZAD! :banghead: :banghead:

I know! Let's put these CLOSER to national parks! Is that not a wonderful idea!? He dont need to worry about the sensitive ecosystems that will be irrvocably harmed

• Open up millions of acres to mining for oil shale.

Mining shale oil is just as bad as coal mining in terms of the horrific environmental damage from processing alone, to say nothing of the strip mining that must take place to extract it.

Yet another regulation will allow coal-fired stations to increase their emissions without installing new anti-pollution equipment.

Now instead of being placed in above ground pits, the coal ash just gets expelled into the atmosphere where it can drift on the wind and get into the water table anyway! Joy of Joys! Sweet Rapture!

One more chips away at the protection of endangered species.

Yes! let us reduce the protections we give to species that are so imperilled that they are extirpated from often over 90% of their range, or exist only in isolated habitats with and have small niche breadth. No one would ever EVER think of driving entire clades to extinction for personal gain.

A common theme is shifting regulation of industry from government to the industries themselves, essentially promoting self-regulation. One rule transfers assessment of the impact of ocean-fishing away from federal inspectors to advisory groups linked to the fishing industry. Another allows factory farms to self-regulate disposal of pollutant run-off.

Certainly the fox can be trusted to guard the hen house. He would never, ever be short sighted enough to just eat all of the chickens for short term gains. Nope. Not in our country where CEOs are rewarded for short term gains and then leave with a huge bonus right before the long term consequences come! Nope. Not at all. It isnt as if they will fish the oceans clean of life after they pay their advisory groups handsomely enough to reach the conclusion they want. Nope. Our commercial fishing corporations are clean and pure paragons of virtue who would never do such a thing. The same goes for factory farmers, who we all know voluntarily treat their livestock with respect, kindness, and dignity, and would never torture them while alive and cruelly butcher them in death, then simply wash the hormone and anti-biotic laced wast products and offal down a storm drain. Nope. Never!

Fuck you Bush, you miserable fucking fascist. Fuck you for murdering hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's, squandering international good will, bankrupting our country, and systematically dismantling the separation of powers and the rule of law. And now, and extra Fuck You for raping the future of our children, and our planet as payback for your corporate friends. If there is a hell, I hope there is a special place there for you, where Ebola infected porcupines are regularly tossed at you as you spin in a dart-board for the crimes against humanity and all of known life that you have committed in your evil despotic reign.

[frigidmagi]

You know I feel a vague prompt to call CT out on his somewhat wild description of the Bush government. The problem is I cannot find one damn thing to defend them with, even if I want to. If that's not damning I'm not sure what is.