President-Elect Barack Obama's transition team is reportedly evaluating a range of environmental policies put in place by the current administration that could be reversed once he assumes office in January.
Some of those actions are being pushed through in the final days of the Bush administration, according to the Washington Post and New York Times. Others have been in place longer, such as the decision last December to deny California a waiver it needs from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate vehicle-related carbon dioxide emissions.
California and a slew of states sought the authority to force automakers to cut vehicle emissions by 30 percent by 2016, which was stricter than the rules endorsed by the administration. It was the first time the agency ever denied a waiver requested by California under the Clean Air Act.
"An early move by the Obama administration to sign the California waiver would signal the seriousness of intent to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil and build a future for the domestic auto market," Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the Washington Post.
Obama said in January he would reverse the decision. Automakers, however, are now feeling the effects of the credit crunch and clamoring for federal aid. Obama, who on Monday asked Bush to help automakers, signaled to the industry his support for aid in exchange for their efforts to shift the industry to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration is trying to water down regulations related to endangered species, power plant emissions and site location, and coal-mining extraction, the Washington Post reported. The Bureau of Land Management is on the verge of opening some 360,000 acres of public land in Utah to oil and gas drilling, according to the New York Times. |
