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EPA Seeks Public Comment on Plan to Review Regulations

Release Date: 02/18/2011
Contact Information: Richard Yost, yost.richard@epa.gov, 202-564-7827, 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is inviting the public to provide input on a plan that will guide EPA’s retrospective reviews of regulations as part of the agency’s response to President Obama’s January 18, 2011 Executive Order (EO) 13563, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.”

EO 13563 directs each federal agency to consider “how best to promote retrospective analysis of rules that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome.” Specifically, the EO calls on every agency to develop “a preliminary plan, consistent with law and its resources and regulatory priorities, under which the agency will periodically review its existing significant regulations to determine whether such regulations should be modified, streamlined, expanded or repealed to make the agency’s regulatory program more effective and or less burdensome in achieving its regulatory objectives.”

EPA shares President Obama’s commitment to using common sense and transparency to review federal regulations and will solicit public input regarding the design of its plan via the EPA website through March 20, 2011. EPA will also provide opportunities for input through a public meeting in Washington, D.C. on March 14, and listening sessions in other parts of the country. These outreach efforts will allow the public to provide EPA with feedback on specific issues, impacts or programs. More information about these meetings will be announced soon.

By late May, EPA will provide the public with its retrospective review plan, as well as the initial list of regulations it plans to review.

More information about EPA’s retrospective review website: https://www.epa.gov/improvingregulations/

More information about environmental laws and regulations: https://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/