In the final months of his administration, George W. Bush [3] is working to enact a flurry of new federal regulations that will weaken rules protecting consumers and the environment. The so-called "midnight regulations" aim to relax standards that protect drinking water, loosen controls on global warming [4] pollutants, remove obstacles to ocean fishing and ease restrictions on mountaintop coal mining [5] activities. The new regulations would be difficult to undo, since the law mandates lengthy periods for re-drafting, re-analysis and public comment. Such activity by an outgoing president is not unusual, nor is the number of regulations being considered. But Matthew Madia of OMB Watch [6], a group formed to "lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the White House's Office of Management and Budget [7]," called Bush's deluge of rules "a last-minute assault on the public ... happening on multiple fronts."