Genesis Wren Miller

February 10, 2009

In the short time that President Barack Obama has been in office, he and his administration have quickly moved to reverse environmental policies and block last minute rules set forth by the Bush administration. The Obama administration has taken steps to undo and halt rules and policies of the Bush administration in regards to issues ranging from endangered species, climate change, oil drilling, tailpipe emissions, fuel efficiency, and waste.

In the last months of his presidency, Bush rushed to institute 157 regulations before he left office, many of which had negative environmental ramifications. After taking office, Obama quickly moved to freeze all pending regulations proposed by former President Bush's administration. The new chief of staff Rahm Emanuel notified federal agencies that all proposed or final regulations must pass through the Oval Office for review and approval instead of being sent to the Office of the Federal Register for publication. The new administration will also review published rules that agencies have not implemented yet.

Many of the rules that former President Bush rushed to complete did take effect, such as, a rule that exempts factory farms from reporting pollution emissions from animal waste, and another that allows federal representatives to approve projects without considering climate change or consulting experts about effects on endangered species. These rules that have taken effect will be harder for the new administration to undue but the Congressional Review Act does give Congress the power to overturn any regulations completed after May 15th of 2008 or to withhold funding of these regulations.

Most recently Ken Salazar, the Interior Secretary canceled leases to drill for gas and oil on over 100,000 acres of public lands in Utah. The land was auctioned off as an 11th-hour action by the Bush Interior Department. When the lands were put up for auction in December, environmental groups filed suit. An injunction was issued that stalled the matter until Obama took office. The new Secretary Salazar's cancellation is effective immediately. Salazar continues to review Bush administration decisions on offshore drilling, endangered species, oil shale, and other last minute moves.

The Obama administration is also signaling a new direction in climate change policy. Offering a new stance of cooperation with states, the new administration directed the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider California's request for permission to impose tailpipe emissions standards. President Obama stated "the federal government must work with, not against, states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." Under the Bush administration, California's request was denied. Obama also asked the Department of Transportation to set automobile fuel efficiency standards that would take effect by March of 2011. He has also expressed a firm policy of ending our country's dependence on foreign oil.

Sources:

Leslie Kaufman, Drilling Leases Scrapped in Utah, N.Y. Times, Feb. 4, 2009 available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/us/05leases.html?_r=6&th&emc=th.

Jeff Mason, Update 3-Obama takes steps to reverse Bush Climate Policies, Reuters, Jan. 26, 2009, http://uk.reuters.com/article/americasIpoNews/idUKN2533835520090126 (last visited Feb. 6, 2009).

Danny Bradbury, Obama Moves to Block Bush's 'Midnight' attempts to Relax Green Rules, Jan. 23, 2009, http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/01/23.

Noelle Straub, Salazar Likely to Overturn Some Bush Regs, E&ENews PM story, Jan. 28, 2009, http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2009/01/28/1/.

NewsFeed Researcher, Obama Blocks some of Bush's Last-minute Environmental Decisions, Jan. 22, 2009, http://newsfeedresearcher.com/data/articles_n4/wolves-administration-wolf.html