Nobody is above the law in the United States of America. That is except for Presidents, who regularly flaunt the law without any blowback, so long as that lawbreaking doesn’t involve blowjobs. The final months of Clinton’s Administration were a huge pardon party, in which every crook who had thrown a bit of change into Clinton’s coffers were let off the hook, and though Bush the 2nd has insisted that he will not be as liberal with the last-minute pardons, there is still plenty of damage he can manage over the next two months.

Unlike some previous Presidents, Bush’s approach hasn’t been to break the law so much as rewrite it to his liking. In the last few months, his legal counsels have been working overtime to do just that. After playing an active role in ruining the global economy, setting American scientific research back over a decade, alienating most of the global community, and starting two endless wars, how can he add a fitting coda to eight years of scorched-earth governance?

There’s strong indication that he plans on ending his stinking shitpile of a Presidency with the kicker of extreme environmental deregulation. Bush has never had an respectable record on the environment–witness the constant silencing during his Administration of NASA scientist James Hansen and government reports that support independent research into global warming. In these final few months, however, he is ramping up the efforts, using the bully pulpit of Executive power to push through policies adding wholesale environmental degradation to his dubious legacy of toxic policies, toxic assets and now toxic environmental policies.

Courtesy of non-profit investigative journalism outfit ProPublica, a short list of last minute rule changes:

In October, the EPA issued a rule that alters the definition of solid waste, effectively exempting about 1.5 million tons of hazardous material from a rule requiring such material to meet strict labeling, transportation and disposal rules.

Another rule, finalized by the EPA late Friday, asks companies that run confined animal feeding operations to voluntarily apply for permits to discharge waste into waterways. But if the operators don’t think their facilities pollute enough to warrant a permit, they’re under no obligation to get one.

The Bureau of Land Management is deciding whether to issue a rule change that would remove Congress’ authority to place a moratorium on uranium mining. The House Natural Resources Committee is currently using that power to slow a flood of permits to mine near the Grand Canyon.
The EPA wants to change rules that determine whether power plants must install cutting-edge technology to control emissions when plants are upgraded to produce more power. Currently, any plant that is upgraded must install the “best available control technology” if they will pollute more than their annual limit. But the Bush administration wants the limit to be based on hourly emissions, which critics say could lead to an increase in air pollution because upgraded plants can operate for more hours a day.

This is all in addition to Bush’s proposal from this summer to roll back many endangered species regulations so fat, lazy bastards can run their emissions-belching, small-penis-compensating SUV’s on dinosaur bones for a couple more years.

Obama’s team has indicated that the President-Elect intends to reverse many of the Bush Administration policies fairly immediately, such as the ban on stem-cell research. There is doubt whether Obama will be able to reverse all of these last-minute Bush declarations, as Bush and his Machiavellian legal team are wily. Politico reports:

While executive orders and rules that are not yet in effect can swiftly be reversed or altered by Obama’s appointees or his own executive orders, rules that go into effect before he takes office will be extremely difficult to undo. Rescinding a rule would require the new administration to re-start the rule-making process, which can take years and prompt legal challenges. Another strategy that has been talked about lately – getting Congress to disapprove the rules through the Congressional Review Act — carries political risks and has been used only once before.

This is, of course, entirely legal action for a departing President to take. But considering what’s at stake, these are impossibly destructive policies being implemented, and will only serve to further tarnish a legacy that is more toxic than a Superfund site. It’s doubtful that Bush cares much, leaving with the lowest approval rating ever while retaining a dogged belief that his Administration will be redeemed by history’s estimation. Instead, it’s far more likely that history will place this Administration in infamy, in which the legacy of short-sighted policy decisions will cast a long shadow over the country–and world–for decades to come.