first action: reverse bush

Almost as soon as Obama was inaugurated yesterday, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel sent a memo that stops all pending regulations set forth by the Bush Administration. 

Since November, when Obama won the election, the Bush Administration submitted over 100 midnight regulations to be passed prior to the end of his term.  It is unclear how many have not taken effect.  

Many that have already taken effect are ones that are deleterious to the environment.  Most of them contain some version of limiting scientific review for environmental impact, for example in the approval of dams, power plants and timber sales.  Most notably was the change to the Endangered Species Act, in which many animals were removed from the listing, as well as the approval leaning towards corporations without regard for the impact to animals.

The Obama Administration has vowed to reverse the rulings made by Bush, however it will take a while as the process has to start all over again, for each and every ruling.