U.S. Rushes to Change Workplace Toxin Rules

Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Page A01 Political appointees at the Department of Labor are moving with unusual speed to push through in the final months of the Bush administration a rule making it tougher to regulate workers' on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins. The agency did not disclose the proposal, as required, in public notices of regulatory plans that it filed in December and May. Instead, Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao's intention to push for the rule first surfaced on July 7, when the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) posted on its Web site that it was reviewing the proposal, identified only by its nine-word title. The text of the proposed rule has not been made public, but according to sources briefed on the change and to an early draft obtained by The Washington... [read full story]