Bush Administration 'Midnight Regulations' Impacting Food

(MoneyWatch)  The Bush Administration was busy these past few months, passing new regulations to ensure that pieces of its agenda carry over even after today's inauguration.

This is nothing new, nor is it uniquely Republican: Carter passed 10,000 pages of regulations in his last month in office, and Clinton holds the record for the largest number of midnight regulations (though Bush Sr. beats Clinton on highest percentage of regulations being passed at the last minute).

But the Bush Administration learned from Clinton's mistakes. Bush was able to block the bulk of Clinton's last-minute regulations because they weren't in effect yet when Bush took office. So last May, the Bush Administration set a Nov. 1 deadline for government agencies to issue new regulations -- meaning the rules would already be active by Jan. 20, thus making them harder for the Obama Administration to overturn.

Here's a look at some of the last-minute rulings that will affect the food industry:

Animal Waste Regulation:

An Environmental Protection Agency ruling lets farmers off the hook for reporting on air pollution from animal waste, as long as it's below a certain threshold.

Published: Dec. 18, 2008 Effective: Jan. 20, 2009

(A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA over the ruling on Jan. 15.)

Farm Worker Visas:
The Department of Labor published new rules on H2A visas for temporary farm workers, making the visas easier to obtain. Anti-immigration groups opposed the rules, as did farm workers rights groups. The United Farm Workers and Farmworker Justice petitioned unsuccessfully for a judge to block the rules, arguing that the rules would lower wages and worker protections.

Published: Dec. 18, 2008
Effective: Jan. 17, 2009

Genetically Engineered Animals:
The Food and Drug Administration issued a final guidance on the regulation of genetically engineered animals. After releasing its draft guidance in the fall, the FDA received about 28,000 comments, but the agency said the final version addresses widespread concerns about the approval process taking place behind closed doors where the public would have no idea about what was going on. The major groups that fought the draft guidance have yet to comment on the final version.

Final Guidance: Jan. 15, 2009

'Naturally Raised' Standards:
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service defined 'naturally raised' as referring to animals that have not been fed growth hormones, unnecessary antibiotics, or animal by-products. Critics of the standard say the definition is misleading and fails to address the conditions animals are raised in.

Issued: Jan. 16, 2009
Published: Jan. 21, 2009
Effective: upon approval by the Office of Management and Budget