In a memo to the heads of executive branch departments and agencies (the memo can be found here), Reince Priebus, President Trump’s chief of staff, ordered a freeze on all pending regulatory actions except those addressing “emergency situations or other urgent circumstances relating to health, safety, or national security.”
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Under the freeze, agencies may not submit regulations for publication in the Federal Register. Alternatively, for any regulation that has been submitted for publication but not yet published, the agency must withdraw it from the Office of the Federal Register.
The order is a standard step taken when the party of the incoming administration differs from that of the departing administration. Virtually identical memos were issued by Presidents G.W. Bush and Barack Obama soon after their inaugurations.
Hard-Rock Mining Proposal
Given that the Obama EPA entered an aggressive rule-promulgation mode after Election Day, many final actions have already been published in the Federal Register and are not subject to the promulgation freeze. However, where permitted by law, the memo states that the effective date of promulgated rules should be postponed by at least 60 days.
EPA actions that may be affected include the Agency’s December 2016 financial assurance proposal for hard-rock mining. Since that action was ordered by a federal court, the effect of Priebus’s memo is uncertain. The freeze also covers guidance documents and any agency statement of general applicability and future effect “that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue or an interpretation of a statutory or regulatory issue.”
Other actions impacted by the freeze include several energy efficiency standards under development in the Department of Energy and a proposal by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on reporting pipeline spills that had been finalized but just missed the memo’s cutoff date.
EPA Grants and Contracts
News outlets also reported that EPA staff unofficially revealed that the White House had ordered a temporary halt to all media output by the Agency (including press releases and blog posts) as well as a freeze on grants and contracts, although it is unclear if this unverified order applies to just new grants and contracts.
In addition, in a meeting with business leaders, President Trump repeated his campaign goal of eliminating 75 percent of federal regulations.
If this is standard protocol for incoming administrations of a different part and George W Bush and Obama did the same thing, why is this newsworthy.
It’s newsworthy and appropriate for inclusion in the EHS Daily Advisor because EHS professionals and the companies they work for may be affected by this action. I would assume similar attention was paid at the start of the Bush and Obama administrations to regulatory freezes in professional forums such as this one.