Obama Quietly Releases Plans For 2,224 Regulations Ahead Of Turkey Day

While millions of Americans prepare to stuff themselves withTurkey and pie, the Obama administration quietly released its plansfor 2,224 federal rules Friday — a preview of just howmany more regulations the president is attempting toissue before he leaves office.

President Barack Obama’s Unified Agenda forFall 2015 is his administration’s regulatoryroad map and lays out thousands of regulations being finalized in the coming months.Obama has developed a habit of releasing the agenda late on Fridaybefore a major holiday.

Indeed, Obama’s Spring 2015 agenda detailingthe status of more than 2,300 regulations was released the eve of Memorial Day weekend.Obama’s Fall 2014 agenda featuring more than3,400 regulations was also released the Friday before Thanksgiving.

While Obama’s latest release features fewerregulations than the last two, it shows the administration isdetermined to churn out as many rules as it can before the end of2016. This includes major energy and environmental regulationscoming down the pipe, like new rules for coal mines and rules banning common pesticides.

Obama has already put out several major environmentalregulations this year, including limits on carbon dioxide emissionsfrom coal-fired power plants, more federal control over U.S.waterways, new hydraulic fracturing regulations and stricter smogrules.

In the last week alone, the Obama administration imposed $1.8billion in regulatory costs, according to a new report by theright-leaning American Action Forum (AAF). This brings the totalcost of regulation in 2015 to a whopping $183 billion —about half from final rules and the other from proposedrules.