From the Washington Post today:


The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal
regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at
protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves
office in January.

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory
steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo.
Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power
plants, mines and farms.

Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some
commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of
pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water
standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.

The burst of activity has made this a busy period for lobbyists who
fear that industry views will hold less sway after the elections. The
doors at the New Executive Office Building have been whirling with
corporate officials and advisers pleading for relief or, in many cases,
for hastened decision making.

A rule put forward by the National Marine Fisheries Service and now
under final review by the OMB would lift a requirement that
environmental impact statements be prepared for certain
fisheries-management decisions and would give review authority to
regional councils dominated by commercial and recreational fishing
interests...

Lee Crockett of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Environment Group said
the administration has received 194,000 public comments on the rule and
protests from 80 members of Congress as well as 160 conservation groups.
"This thing is fatally flawed" as well as "wildly unpopular," Crockett said.

Two other rules nearing completion would ease limits on pollution
from power plants, a major energy industry goal for the past eight years
that is strenuously opposed by Democratic lawmakers and environmental
groups.

One rule, being pursued over some opposition within the
Environmental Protection Agency, 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.
According to the EPA's estimate, it would allow millions of tons of
additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, worsening global
warming.

A related regulation would ease limits on emissions from coal-fired
power plants near national parks.

A third rule would allow increased emissions from oil refineries,
chemical factories and other industrial plants with complex
manufacturing operations.