Katrina Relief Leads to Some Bending of Rules

The Bush administration did not give the agencies any formal marching orders on how to proceed, though it said it is working with agencies to expedite relief initiatives.

"We want to make sure that no bureaucratic obstacles stand in the way of these relief efforts," said John D. Graham , who heads the Office of Management and Budget 's regulatory review office. "We are also working to ensure that regulations issued in the normal course of agency business do not have unintended consequences that might impede relief from being delivered in the aftermath of the hurricane."

Others say the disaster should not be an excuse to push aside important regulatory protections.

Environmentalists, for example, are worried the administration will consider broader waivers to provisions of the Clean Air Act, especially for oil refineries, or will relax rules governing hazardous waste cleanup.

"No one wants to slow down the recovery, but there has been no input from people in the affected communities," said Erik Olson , senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council . Olson said Katrina could become the "all-purpose excuse" to go ahead with efforts already underway to weaken public health standards.

But there are some rules that hold fast.

Katrina contaminated some 2,890 pounds of specialty smoked sausage and bacon made by Enslin & Sons Packing in Hattiesburg, Miss. The small company, which never had a recall in 81 years of business, had its well water tested and unacceptable bacteria were found.

Under Department of Agriculture rules, a plant cannot operate until it is "safe and wholesome." So a week ago, Enslin voluntarily recalled such products as its hickory-smoked Bowie River Swamp Hot Sausage. The facility has yet to resume operations, Enslin said, because it is "waiting on" a state agency for new test results.

Steven Cohen , an Agriculture Department spokesman, sympathized with Enslin. "This was not a deliberate attempt to produce product that was unsafe. This is 100 percent Katrina damage," he said.