The OIRA Module: Published Research

Editor’s Note:  The paper, “Historical Perspective and Better Regulatory Governance: An Agenda for Institutional Reform” is attached here.

It should be noted that CRE has devoted a significant amount of resources on maintaining the most complete history of centralized regulatory review available at any location.

The website is  TheOMB.US  and is visited constantly by legal scholars.

From: The Rethinking Regulation Paper Series organized by the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University

By Edward Balleisen, Associate Professor of History, Duke University, and Elizabeth Brake, Candidate, History Department, Duke University

Editor’s Note:  The signed pdf of the Business Roundtable (BRT) letter to OIRA may be found here.

From: Business Roundtable

In response to the July 18, 2012 invitation to submit ideas for streamlining federal regulations, Business Roundtable (BRT) respectfully submits these comments.

DOE’s enabling statutes give it ample authority to intervene in the regulatory programs of other agencies.  These interventionist authorities are to be used when other federal agencies propose regulations which curtail the attainment of the nation’s energy goals.

Unfortunately these  DOE regulatory authorities have remained dormant for years.  DOE is in the process of implementing a program to examine its  existing regulations and at the same time to initiate process changes which will  make its programs more responsive to the needs of the public.

In response to a request for public comment CRE has provided DOE with these recommendations.

Do you want to have a major impact on US energy policy?  Simply have an NGO,  acting in the “public interest”,  sue the USG government  and obtain a settlement which is not subject to the procedural safeguards of the Administrative Procedure Act  nor OMB review under Executive Order 12886.

CRE finds it  incomprehensible that oil shale offers the United States the potential to extract over 1.5 trillion barrels of oil, an amount about equal to the entire world’s proven oil reserves, yet BLM has drastically shifted its policy position to one  which will prohibit the development of this vital resource.. This is especially troubling in that the 2008 PEIS BLM specifically outlined two additional steps of environmental analysis that would need to be completed before any oil could be commercially extracted.  CRE recommends the following:

Editor’s Note: The audio of Mr. Ellig’s interview is available here.

From: FederalNewsRadio.com 1500AM

The Barack Obama White House says it has cut red tape, reduced paperwork for businesses and citizens, and required agencies to simplify or get rid of old regulations. But has the Obama administration really reduced regulations?

When it comes to the President’s efforts to reduce regulations, Federal News Radio believes more progress is needed. The administration has not universally embraced the spirit of reducing regulations. And it has made limited progress toward its stated goals and produced limited results.

From: RegBlog

Cary Coglianese

Over  the past few decades, governments around the world have established procedures to try to analyze the impacts of new regulatory proposals before they are adopted.  By contrast, they have paid remarkably little attention to analyzing regulations after adoption.  Admittedly, some countries have begun to undertake modest efforts to examine the impacts of regulation retrospectively.  Under the Obama Administration, for example, agencies across the United States government have undertaken a formal “look back” review to identify and remove outdated regulations. But by and large these kinds of look-back efforts, however valuable they may be for tidying up the law books, fall far short of the kind of rigorous evaluation research needed to determine which regulations are causing positive outcomes and which ones are not.

From: Office of Federal Register Blog

Posted by Michael White

The Department of Energy recently published a proposed rule in the Federal Register which serves as an excellent reminder that regulatory review is an ongoing process.

Under Executive Order 13563, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,” agencies are required to develop a plan to periodically review existing regulations to determine which ones should be maintained, modified, strengthened, or repealed to increase the effectiveness and decrease the burdens on affected parties.

The Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs explained the purpose of regulatory lookback this way:

Compendium

Reagan i-16

Reagan 17-46

Reagan 47-76

Reagan 77-108

 Reagan Initiatives Feb 18, 1981

Reagan Mid 1981 Report

Editor’s Note: A pdf of a summary of the Merctaus fiundings is attached here while the complete Working Paper “Overriding Consumer Preferences with Energy Regulations” is attached here.

From: Mercatus Center

Ted Gayer, W. Kip Viscusi

In recent years, federal agencies have issued energy-efficiency standards for everything from cars to light bulbs. These regulations are commonly billed as important efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.