NY Times: Reg Benefits Harder to Ignore

The New York Times has noted OMB's finding that the benefits of federal environmental and other regulations outweigh the costs. But....

Whether these findings will alter the administration's suspicion of federal regulation is unclear. President Bush has rarely allowed science (or, for that matter, logic) to interfere with his policies — witness his attempts to suppress or ignore alarming evidence about global warming to justify his cost-free strategy. Whatever the numbers, fundamental policy shifts are probably not in the cards. Even now there are efforts afoot to weaken rules protecting water quality, transportation safety and the public lands. Nevertheless, the positive results are now there for all to see, and it should become harder for the administration to keep blaming everything from the California energy crisis to the economic slowdown on environmental regulations.