Approaching the Midnight Hour

"Bush's midnight regulations also could be challenged by public interest groups, who are already considering legal actions to get some of them overturned. If the Obama administration agrees with the group's position, it could promise the court to develop a new rule that both parties can agree on. But that would open up the possibility of further legal challenges from third parties, such as utility companies or other industry interests, which could assert that the Obama administration and the group were participating in a 'collusion of interests' without adequately considering the impact on industry."

ProPublica offers a rundown of 20 rules and regulations that the Bush administration is pushing through the rulemaking process in its waning days, and a guide to ferreting out midnight regulations yourself.

Gregg Carlstrom blogged for the Federal Times yesterday: "Sure enough, there are more than a dozen new rules in today's Federal Register, including at least two proposed rules (which agencies were supposed to stop creating by July 1). A few examples:

" * A final rule from the EPA sets limits on a pesticide called ipconazole used by agricultural companies; . . .

" * A final Commerce Department rule allows fishermen to use 'trawl gear' to catch halibut in Alaska; environmental groups say this is an extremely damaging method of fishing."

Matt Madia blogs for OMB Watch about the proposed rules on the length of time truck drivers can work. According to Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook, a long-time auto safety advocate, the rule "is practically identical to two rules that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down last year and in 2004 after Public Citizen challenged the regulations. . . . Under the rule, drivers may continue to log a physically and mentally demanding 77 hours behind the wheel in a seven-day period, take a mere 34 hours off, then hit the road to do it all over."

Madia wrote on Monday about the Interior Department rule "that will open almost 2 million acres of land in Western states to oil shale development. Environmentalists say oil shale development, which involves extracting liquid oil from solid rock by heating it, increases greenhouse gas emissions and requires intensive water use."

The American Association for Justice is keeping an eye out for 21 possible regulations that have yet to be finalized "that could prove devastating to consumers' safety and their right to hold corporations accountable for producing dangerous products."

And Rosa Brooks writes in her Los Angeles Times opinion column: "You knew that W & Co. wouldn't go gently into that good night, didn't you? . . .

"Before Bush's inauguration, Clinton staffers allegedly removed all the Ws from White House keyboards. In a new twist, the Bush administration appears to be trying to leave a lot of hidden Ws behind. . . .

"Obama has an ambitious agenda, but housecleaning will come first. Keep asking for change -- but it may take a while for Obama to sweep all those little Ws out the door."

Change is Coming

All this comes amid clear indications that Obama intends to take a strikingly different approach.