Every admin makes last minute rule changes before leaving office and it seems Bush did also. This source says those changes "dismantle environmental protections and workers' rights". Some of them are as follows;
+ "allow coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountain top mines into valleys, streams
and rivers.
+ allow "mining, drilling, logging, damming, and road-building" w/o review by habitat managers.
+ allow for the dumping of "hundreds of thousands of tons of fecal waste into waterways w/o
permits from EPA".
+ allow for the "burning of hazardous waste as fuel".
+ allow uranium mining "near the Grand Canyon".
+ open 2 million acreas of fed land in the west to "oil shale mining and refining".
+ limit the number of "lead monitors" the EPA is required to have to check on lead in the air.
+ allows for the "rescind(ing of) collective bargaining rights of as many as 8600 fed workers
involved in 'national security'".
+ limits the Mine Safety and Health Admin and OSHA "in their ability to respond to workplace hazards".
(It would seem that there is no debate over the rules Bush has made; the debate is most likely over whether these changes are necessary to protect industry and/or national security. This source obviously comes down on the side of the environment and workers rights).
(Source: "Distantling Environmental Protections and Workers' Rights" by Lou Dubose editor of The Washington Spectator for January 1, 2009).
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