Republicans Can Cancel Some Obama Environment Rules. But They’ll Have to Choose Carefully.

by Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post) ... Two bills under consideration in Congress, each expected to go to a swift vote, could help expedite the process of undoing recent regulations — or even make it more difficult to pass them in the first place.

The Midnight Rules Relief Act would allow multiple rules to be considered for repeal under a single resolution. And the REINS Act — which stands for Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act — would require any new rules to be approved by a joint resolution in Congress before they could take effect at all.

But these aren’t actually the likeliest way for regulatory reform — long a goal of industry — to happen. Rather, the most surefire approach at the moment involves a rarely invoked law that could spell a quick demise for any of 150 or so late-breaking regulations effected in the past six months. And that means several major environmental rules finalized this year could be at risk of being rolled back in the coming weeks or months.

The Congressional Review Act, enacted in 1996, allows Congress 60 legislative days, starting from the date the rule is submitted to Congress and published in the Federal Register, to overturn new federal regulations by submitting something called a “joint resolution of disapproval.” Sometimes, a congressional session adjourns before these 60 days are up, in which case the countdown starts all over again in the new session. If the resolution is signed by the president, the Congressional Review Act holds that the rule in question cannot take effect — and furthermore, it may not be issued in “substantially the same form” again unless Congress authorizes it with a new law.

The usual stumbling block is that the president has the power to veto the resolution, and most presidents are unlikely to overturn regulations that their own administrations have passed. But when a presidential transition occurs, and both the White House and Congress end up controlled by the same party, the law suddenly becomes a potent threat.

With both the White House and Congress controlled by the Republican Party following the presidential inauguration Jan. 20, and thanks to the way the legislative calendar is set up, dozens of rules enacted under the Obama administration in 2016 will still be subject to the Congressional Review Act after Trump takes office.

(T)he law stipulates that only one rule can be targeted at a time — multiple rules can’t be bundled into one resolution....

If the Midnight Rules Relief Act were somehow to become law, for example, then it would allow more regulations to be dismantled quickly by pooling them together.

According to Cass (Oren Cass, a senior fellow and expert on energy and environment policy at the Manhattan Institute), another likely priority may be a rule issued by the Interior Department in November, which would curb methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. A separate rule finalized in early June by the Environmental Protection Agency, which set new greenhouse-gas emissions standards for the oil and gas sector, is close to the cutoff point for rules that may be targeted under the Congressional Review Act, but may also be a prime target if eligible, Cass said. READ MORE