Posted on 11/07/2008 11:27:11 AM PST by Red Steel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the U.S. presidential candidates sprint toward the finish line, the Bush administration is also sprinting to enact environmental policy changes before leaving power.
Whether it's getting wolves off the Endangered Species List, allowing power plants to operate near national parks, loosening regulations for factory farm waste or making it easier for mountaintop coal-mining operations, these proposed changes have found little favor with environmental groups.
The one change most environmentalists want, a mandatory program to cut climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions, is not among these so-called "midnight regulations."
Bureaucratic calendars make it virtually impossible that any U.S. across-the-board action will be taken to curb global warming in this administration, though both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have promised to address it if they win Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.
Even some free-market organizations have joined conservation groups to urge a moratorium on last-minute rules proposed by the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
"The Bush administration has had eight years in office and has issued more regulations than any administration in history," said Eli Lehrer of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. "At this point, in the current economic climate, it would be especially harmful to push through ill-considered regulations in the final days of the administration."
John Kostyack of the National Wildlife Federation, which joined Lehrer's group to call for a ban on these last-minute rules, said citizens are cut out of the process, allowing changes in U.S. law that the public opposes, such as rolling back protections under the Endangered Species Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Go Bush...cram as many of these regulations in at the end as possible.
Wonder who he’ll pardon?
I don’t recall this much b!tching (from anyone other than informed conservatives) about the Bent One’s midnight legislation.
Himself :-)
Last laugh.
He ought to issue a full, free and absolute pardon for every member of his administration.
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rove. In a bizarre twist, he could pardon Obama, Dodd, Conrad, and Clinton for any crimes committed before office. These pardons would be goodwill gestures to forestall retaliation by the rats.
pardon for what crimes? Incompetence?
“such as rolling back protections under the Endangered Species Act.”
One can only hope! Any relief from ESA and its inherent abuses would be wonderful.
Can’t Obama immediately undo Bush’s rule changes upon taking office? I don’t understand how the process works.
Everybody who ever worked for him?
Sure. Executive Orders. "Stroke of the pen, law of the land."
That might not be a bad idea. Who knows what kind of witch hunts the scumbag Democrats might launch?
Everybody who ever worked for him?
That might not be a bad idea. Who knows what kind of witch hunts the scumbag Democrats might launch?
I think that response is meant for someone else.
Ah! Sorry I was reading your response off my pings list, didn’t see the explanation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.