^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

CRE Advocates the Revitalization of DOE's Role as a Regulatory Watchdog
DOE's enabling statutes give it ample authority to intervene in the regulatory programs of other agencies. These interventionist authorities are to be used when other federal agencies propose regulations which curtail the attainment of the nation's energy goals.

Unfortunately, these DOE regulatory authorities have remained dormant for years. DOE is in the process of implementing a program to examine its existing regulations and at the same time to initiate process changes which will make its programs more responsive to the needs of the public.

In response to a request for public comment CRE has provided DOE with these recommendations.

OIRA should enhance the regulatory watchdog role of DOE by considering DOE's views on proposed rules during OIRA's review of regulations. OIRA's use of a designated agency to assist in the government-wide review of regulations for a particular sector is not a new idea-it was the heart of the Nixon Quality of Life Review program.

In order to assist federal agencies in their evaluation of CRE's comments, CRE routinely makes its submissions available for public comment and discussion. We encourage the public to submit comments using this Leave a Reply link.