On January 18, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order titled “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.” The Wall Street Journal printed the President’s address concerning the executive order in an article entitled “Toward a 21st Century Regulatory System.”
The executive order requires federal agencies to ensure that regulations protecting health, safety and the environment also promote economic growth. The order directs a government-wide review of regulations already on the books in order to seek out and abolish outdated regulations that hinder job creation and economic competition. President Barack Obama expressed his recognition of the delicate balance between protection and economic growth, and his realization that regulations often strike the wrong balance. Therefore, he has made it the policy of his administration to strive for the same ends (the protection of health, safety and the environment), by way of less intrusive means.
What is the anticipated result of the executive order? It is difficult to predict at this point. At the very least, this modernizing effort is a step in the right direction. As natural resource users know, the regulations in this area of the law are seemingly endless. Many regulations do not provide for adequate protection of the environment, let alone make any kind of logical sense, and yet they place giant and sometime insurmountable burdens on those attempting to place those resources to productive use. If the executive order plays a part in reducing roadblocks to growth while protecting health, safety and the environment in a more cost effective way, then it will have made great progress in improving the U.S. regulatory system.
A complete version of the Wall Street Journal article is available at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703396604576088272112103698.html.
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