Less than two hours after taking office, President Bush acted on Saturday to delay or block the Clinton administration’s final initiatives, including many environmental rules. Bush’s executive order put a 60-day stay on regulations that have been published in the Federal Registry but haven’t yet taken effect. Bush has expressed particular unhappiness with the Clinton administration’s plan to ban road-building and logging on 58.5 million acres of national forestland, but the plan may prove difficult to withdraw because it was developed after a lengthy review period. Meanwhile, in what may be the last bit of regulatory news to warm enviros’ hearts for the next four years, the Clinton administration’s Energy Department issued rules this month to increase substantially the efficiency of new residential central air-conditioner and heat pumps, as well as water heaters, clothes washers, and commercial heating and cooling equipment.
