[at-l] OT-POL: Bush overhauls U.S. Regulations.

[jbryankramer at msn.com (J Bryan Kramer)]

See here we have a lefty introducing Political Material to the list. Just
take this into consideration, at the DNC convention reporters from the NYT
were surveyed and 80% of them said that they plan to vote for Kerry. The
other 20% refused to answer, probably because they still have some small
residue of shame.The NYT has become a fully owned subsidiary of the DNC and
will do anything to get him elected.

The only issue I know much about is the forest rule and to show their bias
they apparently don't point out that the reason for that action was the fact
that the Sierra Club and fellow travelers have used the courts to block any
thinning of forests. Apparently preferring to see them burn. So the
administration was forced to take action.

I notice that the federal courts mentioned are not identified, I suspect all
or most of them are in the ninth circuit which says it all. It is the most
overruled circuit by far being full of self appointed judicial legislators
who ignore Constitution.

The NYT has abandoned reporting and just about everything in it should
appear on the editorial page.

Bryan

-------Original Message-----
--From: at-l-bounces@backcountry.net 
--[mailto:at-l-bounces@backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Steve Adams
--Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2004 22:03
--To: at-l@backcountry.net
--Subject: [at-l] OT-POL: Bush overhauls U.S. Regulations.
--
--
--An article published in the New York Times* is synopsed.  Some of the 
--regulations pertaining to the environment may interest 
--hikers.  If you ask, 
--OFF LIST, I will email the article to you in its entirety.
--
--1)    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 
--(NHTSA) published a 
--new rule on the public release of auto-safety information, 
--July 28, 2003.  
--Allies of tire manufacturers and automakers contended the 
--release of early 
--warning data is likely to cause "substantial competitive 
--harm."  Consumer 
--groups argued the data should be released because it is 
--important to the 
--identification of potential defects.
--
--The NHTSA published a regulation, April 21, 2004, that 
--forbids the public 
--release of warranty-claim information, industry reports on 
--safety issues and 
--consumer complaints, saying that publicizing the information 
--would cause 
--"substantial competitive harm" to manufacturers.
--
--A consumer advocacy group, filed suit, saying consumers 
--needed the data to 
--inform themselves about unsafe vehicles and tires.  Ray Tyson, chief 
--spokesman for NHTSA, said: "I can't believe this information 
--would be of 
--much interest to the general public."
--
--2)    The administration, at the request of lumber and paper 
--companies, gave 
--Forest Service managers the right to approve logging in 
--federal forests 
--without the usual environmental reviews.
--
--3)    In March, 2003, the Mine Safety and Health 
--Administration published a 
--proposed new regulation that would dilute rules intended to 
--protect coal 
--miners from black-lung disease.
--
--4)    In May 2003, the Bush administration dropped a proposed 
--rule that 
--would require hospitals to install facilities to protect 
--workers against 
--tuberculosis.  Workers unions and public health officials 
--argued that the 
--number of tuberculosis cases had risen in 20 states and that the same 
--precautions for tuberculosis would also have been effective 
--against SARS.
--
--5)    The next month, the Department of Labor, responding to 
--complaints from 
--industry, dropped a rule that required employers to keep a record of 
--employees' ergonomic injuries.
--
--6)    The administration's 2004 budget proposed to cut 77 
--enforcement and 
--related positions from the Occupational Safety and Health 
--Administration.
--
--7)    In 1995, the National Transportation Safety Board 
--issued a study on 
--fatal truck accidents. Thousands of people die each year in 
--collisions with 
--heavy trucks.  More than half the accidents resulted from 
--truck-driver 
--fatigue.
--
--Congress the same year ordered the government to revise 
--driving-hour rules 
--to "reduce fatigue-related incidents and increase driver alertness.
--
--Consumer and driver-safety groups lobbied to shorten the 
--number of hours 
--drivers could stay behind the wheel.  Trucking industry 
--officials argued 
--that shorter shifts would disrupt delivery schedules and 
--raise prices on 
--products delivered by truck.
--
--Last year, the Department of Transportation issued a new rule 
--increasing 
--allowable driving time from 10 hours without a break to 11 
--hours. But after 
--11 hours, drivers would have to take 10 hours off instead of eight.
--
--Safety groups filed suit, saying the new rule, in all its 
--detail, actually 
--increased driving hours per week by 30 percent.
--
--8)    Last August, the administration relaxed its clean-air rules by 
--allowing thousands of corporations to upgrade their plants 
--without having to 
--install expensive pollution-control equipment.
--
--In December, the United States Court of Appeals blocked the 
--rule, at least 
--temporarily, indicating that the court doubted the administration had 
--authority to modify the Clean Air Act by regulation.
--
--9)    The Department of Energy announced, May, 2002, that it 
--would weaken a 
--standard to make home air-conditioners more efficient. The 
--department did 
--order an efficiency increase, but less than had been mandated.
--
--Attorneys general from seven states filed suit to restore the 
--old standard. 
--In January of this year, the United States Court of Appeals 
--ruled that the 
--Bush administration did not have the legal right to revise 
--the efficiency 
--rule.
--
--10)    A federal judge blocked a plan by the Department of 
--the Interior to 
--allow an energy company to drill for oil adjacent to the 
--Arches National 
--Park in Utah, saying the government had not adequately considered the 
--environmental impact of the plan.
--
--11)    An Interior Department judicial agency blocked a plan 
--to develop the 
--Powder River Basin in Wyoming.
--
--Steve
--
--* New York Times Online, August 14, 2004
--"Out of Spotlight, Bush Overhauls U.S. Regulations," Joel Brinkley
--
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