US: White House deregulation push clears out hundreds of proposed rules

The White House said Thursday it had withdrawn or removed from active consideration more than 800 proposed regulations that were never finalised during the Obama administration as it works to shrink the federal government's regulatory footprint. In a report, the Trump administration said it had withdrawn 469 planned actions that had been part of the Obama administration's regulatory agenda published last fall. Officials also reconsidered 391 active regulatory proceedings by reclassifying them as long-term or inactive "allowing for further careful review," the White House said. The steps to eliminate regulations makes good on a much-repeated Trump campaign promise to promote business-friendly policies. Investors have anticipated the action, helping to push share prices higher on hopes that fewer regulations will boost business growth and lead to higher corporate profits. The Trump administration has identified nearly 300 regulations related to energy production and environmental protection it plans to rescind, review or delay across three agencies. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the administration was addressing "that slow cancer that can come from regulatory burdens that we put on our people." Some condemned the plan. "Six months into the administration, the only accomplishments the president has had is to rollback, delay and rescind science-based safeguards," said Yogin Kothari of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Today’s release of the regulatory agenda confirms just as much. It continues to perpetuate a false narrative that regulations only have costs and no benefits.”<br/>