The Great Deregulator

On the eve of a Presidential election in with less than 3 months before the next President takes office, the Bush administration is burning the midnight oil as they enact a wide array of federal regulations in order to weaken government rules that protect consumers and the environment.

The Washington Post reports, “The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo.”

Hard to undo you may ask. That is because the incoming President can exercise their power and undo those late changed made by President Bush. That is of course if the changes are submitted after the deadline but if they are not, they can only be undone “through a laborious new regulatory proceeding, including lengthy periods of public comment, drafting and mandated reanalysis.”

The Washington Post adds, “On the afternoon of Bush's inauguration, Jan. 20, 2001, his chief of staff issued a government-wide memo that blocked the completion or implementation of regulations drafted in the waning days of the Clinton administration that had not yet taken legal effect.”

So, the Bush administration knows a thing or two about blocking regulation imposed in the last days of the Clinton administration. They hope to avoid such fate if Barack Obama assumes office.

The Great Deregulator wishes to pass such laws that “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.”

President Bush “would ease limits on emissions from coal-fired power plants near national parks,” and “allow increased emissions from oil refineries, chemical factories and other industrial plants with complex manufacturing operations.”

The implications are significant for the American people. These news rules would condemn us to dirtier polluted air for years to come. This is all in the interest of big business.

There is no secret that President Bush has done more harm then good to the United States with his policies of deregulation and apparently he is not stopping just because his tenure is about to be over. Rachel Maddow does a great job of reporting on the matter on her show on MSNBC.