Pending Regs

The White House finished the review on Monday of two proposed rules that govern standards for formaldehyde emissions from certain types of wood products, such as plywood and particleboard.

Congress set forth the regulations in July 2010, by passing legislation modifying the Toxic Substances Control Act. The legislation asks the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to not only create the emission standards – but also craft regulations to create a third-party compliance system.

The bill, the Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act, required the agency to finalize rules by Jan. 1, 2013, but the proposals have been sitting at the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) since last May.

A couple of new rules are scheduled to be published in Wednesday's Federal Register affecting defense acquisitions, animal drugs and everything in between. Here they are:

Plants and animals:
The Environmental Protection Agency is establishing a limit for the plant hormone 1-naphthaleneacetic acid on a variety of fruits. 

Oil-and-gas companies are concerned about reporting requirements for doing business with Burma now that the United States has established relations with the country.

Companies are lobbying the State Department on the reporting issue as the administration works to build diplomatic ties. President Obama on Monday hosted Burmese President Thein Sein at the White House in the latest sign of growing cooperation.

Oil-and gas-firms are interested in buying blocs in the resource-rich Bay of Bengal off of Burma’s western coast. Burma has offered up several plots to European Union bidders in recent auctions, and U.S. firms are also beginning to show interest.

Six Senate Democrats from Western states called Monday upon financial regulators to broaden forthcoming Dodd-Frank Act regulations to encompass a larger segment of energy markets.

In a letter to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Gary Gensler, the lawmakers say proposed Dodd-Frank rules designed to increase oversight of the swaps market are insufficient.

A proposed rule intended to cut pollution from automobiles is to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, nearly two months after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) detailed the draft regulations. 

New rules and proposals will be published on Tuesday in the Federal Register. Here are the main ones:

Animals, plants and fish:
The Department of Agriculture wants to update the rules for how it seizes endangered plants and animals improperly imported into the country. 

A federal safety agency wants rules to protect children from stroller accidents.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent agency that safeguards consumer products, is proposing a a federal safety standard for strollers.

Between 2008 and 2012, four children have died and 359 have been injured in stroller accidents. Many of the incidents stem from infants who trap their heads, brakes that do not work and issues with broken wheels.

Monday's Federal Register will feature a host of new regulations covering blueberries, strollers and nuclear fuel, among other topics. Here are the highlights:

Food and fish:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to increase the assessment rate charged to blueberry producers and importers. 

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday moved forward on more than 2,000 pages of Dodd-Frank rules.

Federal regulators voted to approve regulations that aim to increase transparency around swap transactions, which trade risk from one entity to another in the estimated $700 trillion derivatives market.

Only a handful of major banks — including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America — have a role in the mammoth swaps market.

Critics say the final versions of the rules have been watered down to placate Wall Street.

There are a few rules coming up on pesticides, endangered species and ways that the federal and state governments work together to combat Medicaid fraud. Here's what's coming up in Friday's Federal Register:

Healthcare:
The Department of Health and Human Services is amending a provision to allow the federal government to give financial assistance to states' Medicaid fraud units. 

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