Soup Crafter: The Federal Register's Orwellian Happy Face

The unleashed regulatory beast is sporting an Orwellian happy face. On December 26, I blogged the USEPA is reinventing itself as the “U.S. Bureau of Environmental Sustainability,” (with a link to a Fox News article on the topic.)

Well this demanded more investigation. The first time in more than a dozen years I dove into the Federal Register to see what was going on. And indeed, on January 19, 2012, it announced it would hold meetings on February 13^th and 14^thto begin developing this “meta regulation.” (Federal Register Full Text.)

“Meta regulations” define the Executive branch’s overriding regulatory policy. It’s generally spelled out through policy directives, executive orders, and sometimes cut from whole cloth like the EPA newly found authority to regulate “greenhouse gas emissions.” Other times the regulatory authority comes from seemingly ubiquitous riders attached to must pass spending bills.

Among the meta-regulations currently driving environmental policy are environmental justice, climate change, and sustainability. These are all nebulous concepts that fully unleash new regulatory hounds. The progress of these meta-regulations are dutifully reported in the Federal Register, but are buried in mind numbing verbiage.

It should be noted that some administrations attempt to reign in the regulatory hounds. The Obama Administration, on the other hand, has been prodigiously releasing them.

Now here’s the thing. The Federal Register is essentially the federal record of public notice. It’s hundreds of pages of legalese every day. It’s the daily great grey book of regulatory verbiage. While I wasn’t watching, it took on an Orwellian happy face.

In tracking down the EPA commissioned study “Sustainability and the U.S. EPA,” I opened the online version of the Federal Register on January 20 and was greeted with a smiley faced announcement saying:

“We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, Department of Commerce) and other Federal, State, and tribal partners, announce that we are seeking public comments and input regarding the draft National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy (Strategy). The purpose of the Strategy will be to inspire and enable natural resource professionals and other decision makers to take action to conserve the nation's fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystem functions, as well as the human uses and values these natural systems provide, in a changing climate. In addition to this request for written comments, several public workshops will be conducted in order to provide additional opportunities for public involvement and discussion of the draft. The draft Strategy is available at the following link: http://www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov/public-review-draft.php”

The portal for the Federal Register has become something of a daily news magazine telling of all the wonderful things the Federal Government is doing to improve our lives. (Take a look) The daily grey regulatory.pdf files behind these upbeat stories, in a Paul Harvey like way, tell the rest of the story. (Full Text) In all of that, here are the hounds lurking behind that smiley faced good news.

“We initially requested public

comments and input on the

development of the Strategy in a May

24, 2011, notice of intent in the Federal

Register (76 FR 30193). After we

incorporated initial input, in November

2011 we requested comments on a

preliminary draft of the Strategy from

selected Federal, State, and Tribal

agencies.

We now open the public comment

period (see DATES). After considering

and incorporating comments from the

public, we anticipate releasing a

revised, final Strategy by early summer

2012.

Key milestones are shown below:

• Outreach and Engagement Sessions—

2009/2010

• Steering Committee Formed—

December 2010

• Technical Teams Established—

February 2011

• Agency Review Draft Circulated—

November 2011

• Public Review Draft Announced—

January 2012

• Release Final Strategy—May/June

2012

Ultimately, the Strategy will be a

blueprint for common action that

outlines needed scientific support,

policy, and legal frameworks;

recommended management practices;

processes for integration and

communication; and a framework for

implementing these approaches. It will

enable national and international

conservation communities to harness

collective expertise, authority, and skills

in order to define and prioritize a shared

set of conservation goals and objectives

.We initially requested public