CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation

Just another week in the world of regulation:

  • Last week, 65 new final rules were published, down from 68 the previous week.
  • That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 35 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • All in all, 2,431 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
  • If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,868 new rules.
  • Last week, 1,943 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register, for a total of 49,910 pages.
  • At its current pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 77,985 pages.
  • Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 28 such rules published so far in 2012 have compliance costs of at least $16.37 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates, and a third cost estimate does not give a total annual cost. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.
  • One economically significant rule was published last week.
  • So far, 248 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2012.
  • So far this year, 460 final rules affect small business; 63 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

  • Last week’s economically significant rule comes from the EPA. It changes offshore oil drilling procedures in the wake of the 2010 BP spill. You can read the 137-page rule here; Politico kindly summarizes it here.
  • The National Mine Safety and Health Review Commission is moving its headquarters.
  • The Pagosa skyrocket, Parachute beardtongue, and DeBecque phacelia are more than cool potential band names. These plant species are the beneficiaries of critical habitat designations, courtesy of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
  • If you would like to request that a TV show be closed captioned, take note that the FCC has changed some of its relevant terminology.

For more data, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.