President Obama’s administration published more than $12 billion worth of new regulations in his final week in the oval office, according to a report.
Obama issued last-minute regulations included efficiency standards for ceiling fans and pool pumps, new guidelines for raising organic livestock and rules for protesting human test subjects.
“The final three days of the Obama Administration concluded in an incredible display of regulatory output,” wrote Sam Batkins, the director of regulatory policy at the right-leaning American Action Forum (AAF).
“The administration published 12 rulemakings with total costs exceeding $100 million, including eight final rules,” Batkins wrote. “Three rules exceeded $1 billion in long-term costs.”
Federal agencies spent the final weeks of the Obama administration hastily pushing out last-minute, or “midnight,” regulations to make it harder for President Trump to roll back eight years of Obama-era policy.
“For the week, regulators published $12.3 billion in costs, with $2.6 billion in annual burdens compared to $4.3 billion in benefits; paperwork grew by 8.4 million hours. The per capita regulatory burden for 2017 is $419,” Batkins wrote.
The Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency standards for ceiling fans and pool pumps are expected to cost a combined $7 billion — more than half the regulatory burden imposed in Obama’s final week.
DOE already imposed $19.3 billion in new regulatory burdens this year, which is more than the cost of all regulations issued since 2006, according to AAF.
DOE efficiency standards for appliances are just one of the ways Obama planned on meeting his global warming pledge to the United Nations. Obama promised to cut U.S. emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025.
Trump has promised to eliminate Obama’s so-called “Climate Action Plan” and replace it with what he calls an “America First Energy Plan,” which includes boosting energy production on federal lands.
“The Trump Administration will embrace the shale oil and gas revolution to bring jobs and prosperity to millions of Americans,” reads the new Whitehouse.gov. “The Trump Administration is also committed to clean coal technology, and to reviving America’s coal industry, which has been hurting for too long.”
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