[Vision2020] So Little Time, So Much Damage

[Chasuk]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/opinion/04tue1.html?ex=1383541200&en=d1f187ca43fa8c3f&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=digg

Published: November 3, 2008

While Americans eagerly vote for the next president, here's a sobering
reminder: As of Tuesday, George W. Bush still has 77 days left in the
White House — and he's not wasting a minute.

President Bush's aides have been scrambling to change rules and
regulations on the environment, civil liberties and abortion rights,
among others — few for the good. Most presidents put on a last-minute
policy stamp, but in Mr. Bush's case it is more like a wrecking ball.
We fear it could take months, or years, for the next president to
identify and then undo all of the damage.

Here is a look — by no means comprehensive — at some of Mr. Bush's
recent parting gifts and those we fear are yet to come.

CIVIL LIBERTIES We don't know all of the ways that the administration
has violated Americans' rights in the name of fighting terrorism. Last
month, Attorney General Michael Mukasey rushed out new guidelines for
the F.B.I. that permit agents to use chillingly intrusive techniques
to collect information on Americans even where there is no evidence of
wrongdoing.

Agents will be allowed to use informants to infiltrate lawful groups,
engage in prolonged physical surveillance and lie about their identity
while questioning a subject's neighbors, relatives, co-workers and
friends. The changes also give the F.B.I. — which has a long history
of spying on civil rights groups and others — expanded latitude to use
these techniques on people identified by racial, ethnic and religious
background.

The administration showed further disdain for Americans' privacy
rights and for Congress's power by making clear that it will ignore a
provision in the legislation that established the Department of
Homeland Security. The law requires the department's privacy officer
to account annually for any activity that could affect Americans'
privacy — and clearly stipulates that the report cannot be edited by
any other officials at the department or the White House.

The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has now released a
memo asserting that the law "does not prohibit" officials from
homeland security or the White House from reviewing the report. The
memo then argues that since the law allows the officials to review the
report, it would be unconstitutional to stop them from changing it.
George Orwell couldn't have done better.

THE ENVIRONMENT The administration has been especially busy weakening
regulations that promote clean air and clean water and protect
endangered species.

Mr. Bush, or more to the point, Vice President Dick Cheney, came to
office determined to dismantle Bill Clinton's environmental legacy,
undo decades of environmental law and keep their friends in industry
happy. They have had less success than we feared, but only because of
the determined opposition of environmental groups, courageous members
of Congress and protests from citizens. But the White House keeps
trying.

Mr. Bush's secretary of the interior, Dirk Kempthorne, has recently
carved out significant exceptions to regulations requiring expert
scientific review of any federal project that might harm endangered or
threatened species (one consequence will be to relieve the agency of
the need to assess the impact of global warming on at-risk species).
The department also is rushing to remove the gray wolf from the
endangered species list — again. The wolves were re-listed after a
federal judge ruled the government had not lived up to its own
recovery plan.

In coming weeks, we expect the Environmental Protection Agency to
issue a final rule that would weaken a program created by the Clean
Air Act, which requires utilities to install modern pollution controls
when they upgrade their plants to produce more power. The agency is
also expected to issue a final rule that would make it easier for
coal-fired power plants to locate near national parks in defiance of
longstanding Congressional mandates to protect air quality in areas of
special natural or recreational value.

Interior also is awaiting E.P.A.'s concurrence on a proposal that
would make it easier for mining companies to dump toxic mine wastes in
valleys and streams.

And while no rules changes are at issue, the interior department also
has been rushing to open up millions of acres of pristine federal land
to oil and gas exploration. We fear that, in coming weeks, Mr.
Kempthorne will open up even more acreage to the commercial
development of oil shale, a hugely expensive and environmentally risky
process that even the oil companies seem in no hurry to begin. He
should not.

ABORTION RIGHTS Soon after the election, Michael Leavitt, the
secretary of health and human services, is expected to issue new
regulations aimed at further limiting women's access to abortion,
contraceptives and information about their reproductive health care
options.

Existing law allows doctors and nurses to refuse to participate in an
abortion. These changes would extend the so-called right to refuse to
a wide range of health care workers and activities including abortion
referrals, unbiased counseling and provision of birth control pills or
emergency contraception, even for rape victims.

The administration has taken other disturbing steps in recent weeks.
In late September, the I.R.S. restored tax breaks for banks that take
big losses on bad loans inherited through acquisitions. Now we learn
that JPMorgan Chase and others are planning to use their bailout funds
for mergers and acquisitions, transactions that will be greatly
enhanced by the new tax subsidy.

One last-minute change Mr. Bush won't be making: He apparently has
decided not to shut down the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — the most
shameful symbol of his administration's disdain for the rule of law.

Mr. Bush has said it should be closed, and his secretary of state,
Condoleezza Rice, and his secretary of defense, Robert Gates, pushed
for it. Proposals were prepared, including a plan for sending the real
bad guys to other countries for trial. But Mr. Cheney objected, and
the president has refused even to review the memos. He will hand this
mess off to his successor.

We suppose there is some good news in all of this. While Mr. Bush
leaves office on Jan. 20, 2009, he has only until Nov. 20 to issue
"economically significant" rule changes and until Dec. 20 to issue
other changes. Anything after that is merely a draft and can be easily
withdrawn by the next president.

Unfortunately, the White House is well aware of those deadlines.