Re: Fw : Environmental fugitives get own most-wanted list - Y...

[Guest guest]

_http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/washington/30labor.html?_r=1_

(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/washington/30labor.html?_r=1)

In a message dated 12/11/2008 2:03:16 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,

quackadillian@... writes:

I've heard that the Bush administration is working

18 hour days trying to change a bunch of Federal regulations before

the next administration comes in -the goal being to make changing the

law to reflect new knowledge on toxic substances much harder

indefintely.

Sharon Noonan Kramer

[Guest guest]

They have been " studying " issuing standards on the known toxicants

silica abd beryllium since 1997????

That is OVER A DECADE!!!

On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 5:05 PM, <snk1955@...> wrote:

>

>

> _http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/washington/30labor.html?_r=1_

> (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/washington/30labor.html?_r=1)

>

>

> In a message dated 12/11/2008 2:03:16 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,

> quackadillian@... writes:

>

> I've heard that the Bush administration is working

> 18 hour days trying to change a bunch of Federal regulations before

> the next administration comes in -the goal being to make changing the

> law to reflect new knowledge on toxic substances much harder

> indefintely.

>

> Sharon Noonan Kramer

>

After a regulation is drafted and formally proposed, Mr. said,

it is " all but impossible " to get OSHA to make significant changes.

" Risk assessment drives the entire process of regulation, " he said,

and " courts almost always defer " to the agency's assessments.

But critics say the additional step does nothing to protect workers.

" This rule is being pushed through by an administration that, for the

last seven and a half years, has failed to set any new OSHA health

rules to protect workers, except for one issued pursuant to a court

order, " said Margaret M. Seminario, director of occupational safety

and health for the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

Now, Ms. Seminario said, " the administration is rushing to lock in

place requirements that would make it more difficult for the next

administration to protect workers. "

She said the proposal could add two years to a rule-making process

that often took eight years or more.

Representative , a California Democrat who is chairman of

the House Committee on Education and Labor, said the proposal would

" weaken future workplace safety regulations and slow their adoption. "

The proposal says that risk assessments should include

industry-by-industry data on exposure to workplace substances.

Administration officials acknowledged that such data did not always

exist.

In their letter, Mr. Obama and other lawmakers said the Labor

Department, instead of tinkering with risk-assessment procedures,

should issue standards to protect workers against known hazards like

silica and beryllium. The government has been working on a silica

standard since 1997 and has listed it as a priority since 2002.

The timing of the proposal appears to violate a memorandum issued in

early May by B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff.

" Except in extraordinary circumstances, " Mr. Bolten wrote,

" regulations to be finalized in this administration should be proposed

no later than June 1, 2008, and final regulations should be issued no

later than Nov. 1, 2008. "

The Labor Department has not cited any extraordinary circumstances for

its proposal, which was published in the Federal Register on Aug. 29.

Administration officials confirmed last week that the proposal was

still on their regulatory agenda.

The Labor Department said the proposal affected " only internal agency

procedures " for developing health standards. It cited one source of

authority for the proposal: a general " housekeeping statute " that

allows the head of a department to prescribe rules for the performance

of its business.

The statute is derived from a law passed in 1789 to help

Washington get the government up and running.

The Labor Department rule is among many that federal agencies are

poised to issue before Mr. Bush turns over the White House to Mr.

Obama.

One rule would allow coal companies to dump rock and dirt from

mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.

Another, issued last week by the Health and Human Services Department,

gives states sweeping authority to charge higher co-payments for

doctor's visits, hospital care and prescription drugs provided to

low-income people under Medicaid. The department is working on another

rule to protect health care workers who refuse to perform abortions or

other procedures on religious or moral grounds.