The lastest appointment debacle

DAVID McNEW/NEWSMAKERS The OIRA can overrule the EPA on oil drilling

Compassionate conservative. Moderate Republican. A uniter, not a divider.

Turns out that George W. Bush, DC '68 is—surprise—none of these things. And if his Cabinet looks more conservative than a Buchanan family reunion, just wait until you hear who he'll have filling those smaller posts that most of us don't even know about.

Until this week, I had never heard of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). It's a relatively obscure department in the federal government, a part of the Office of Management and Budget. But even obscure offices sometimes wield extraordinary power, and under Bush the OIRA could do exactly that. The OIRA has the responsibility of reviewing regulations passed by over 50 agencies. The office itself cannot veto a regulation, but previous presidents have rarely disagreed with its analysis.

While liberals complain about Bush's having chosen the most conservative cabinet in memory, the president's rightist nominations to smaller posts, like administrator of the OIRA, go unnoticed. Earlier this month, Bush chose John Graham of Harvard University to head that office. As director of Harvard's Center for Risk Analysis, Graham has made a career of analyzing government regulations through a system of cost-benefit analysis. It's no coincidence that Graham's work was largely funded by the businesses that would be most hurt by regulations. Not surprisingly, Graham's so-called objective numbers show that regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are often not worth the money they cost.

Graham has a point. The regulations to protect the environment are not worth it—not to the companies that might lose some profit at the expense of the nation's health. But his research analyzes the effect of EPA rules solely by calculating the amount of money spent per year of human life saved. Apparently, the Bush administration feels comfortable putting a price on the lives of Americans.

W. has forgotten who elected him to his current office. His mandate came from five Supreme Court justices, all of whom have explicitly disagreed with Graham's methods. The Supreme Court recently and unanimously decided that the EPA should not use cost-benefit analysis when setting standards for regulations that would protect the public's health. Graham argued for the losing side in the case before the court, but as director of OIRA, he would have the power to undermine the court's decision.

His appointment is another sign that the Bush administration has no intention of preserving the environment. In only 10 weeks in office, Bush has already reversed several of the Clinton administration's protective policies, including one that would reduce levels of arsenic in drinking water. He has decided not to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant, contradicting his campaign rhetoric and defying the wishes of his own EPA director. With Graham in charge of the office responsible for evaluating all executive agency regulations, it will be difficult for the EPA or anyone else to protect the health of the nation, unless they can do it without costing big business any money. Seems like a more appropriate slogan for the Bush campaign would have been "Leave no CEO behind."

Of course, Graham still has to be confirmed by the Senate. Opponents to the nomination will likely be unsuccessful—unless they can find an illegal alien who worked for Graham, the Senate will defer to Bush's choice as it always has. But the opposition, led by Public Citizen, continues to lobby against Graham. Public Citizen is the consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader. I wonder if Nader and his supporters still believe that Bush and Al Gore were equally evil. It's hard to imagine Gore appointing such an avid EPA opponent to be the nation's regulations chief. I wonder how Nader feels now as he watches Bush slowly tear away regulations that he himself fought so hard to enact. Michael Gerber is a senior in Ezra Stiles.

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