Browse regulations

The regulation defines 'chat' as mining waste from the Tri-State Mining District and establishes conditions for its use in federally-funded transportation construction projects. It permits chat use if incorporated into specific materials (e.g., asphalt mixes, seals, concrete) or if leaching tests meet safety thresholds for lead, cadmium, and zinc, or if authorized by a response action. Certification and recordkeeping requirements apply.

Deleting this regulation would either prohibit beneficial reuse of chat (raising disposal costs and wasting a resource) or leave it unregulated (risking water contamination). The regulation provides a uniform, science-based standard with flexible, site-specific assessment that would be difficult for individual states to develop and maintain, ensuring safe recycling while protecting water quality.

EPA regulation specifying data requirements for pesticide registration, including safety testing, confidentiality procedures, and use pattern-based testing standards under FIFRA and FFDCA.

Creates massive regulatory burden costing billions in compliance costs, stifling innovation and competition in agricultural sector while protecting large incumbents through regulatory capture.

EPA's implementing regulations for NEPA, establishing procedures for environmental reviews (categorical exclusions, EAs, EISs), public participation, interagency coordination, and documentation requirements to ensure environmental considerations in EPA decision-making.

NEPA's procedural mandates impose massive compliance costs (over $2T annually nationwide), disproportionately burden small businesses, enable regulatory capture through public comment processes, duplicate state-level review, and sacrifice actual environmental outcomes for bureaucratic process. The regulation expands federal overreach into areas reserved to states under the Tenth Amendment.

Regulation establishes procedures for the Postal Regulatory Commission to maintain and modify lists categorizing Postal Service products as market dominant (monopoly) or competitive, and to publish a detailed Mail Classification Schedule with rates, fees, and product descriptions. It sets requirements for public notice, comment periods, docket proceedings, and justification for modifications including analysis of market power and impacts on small businesses.

Without this transparency framework, the Postal Service could arbitrarily reclassify products to expand monopoly power without accountability. The regulation imposes minimal administrative costs while providing essential oversight of a government monopoly, ensuring public participation and preventing regulatory capture by requiring rigorous justification including market power analysis and small business impact assessments. Deleting it would sacrifice transparency for negligible savings while enabling unchecked monopoly expansion.

Requires the Postal Service to file notice and provide cost data when changing rates for competitive products, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements for cost recovery and preventing cross-subsidization from market-dominant products.

Without this transparency requirement, the Postal Service could arbitrarily raise prices on competitive services without justification, potentially using monopoly power to cross-subsidize unprofitable operations or extract monopoly rents from businesses that rely on mail services, harming economic efficiency and consumer welfare.

Postal Service procurement regulations governing property and service acquisitions, dispute resolution procedures, debarment processes, and contract claims handling.

These regulations create an excessive bureaucratic framework that imposes substantial compliance costs on suppliers and the Postal Service while offering little value beyond basic contract law. The elaborate dispute resolution procedures, debarment processes, and procurement rules represent regulatory capture benefiting lawyers and bureaucrats rather than serving public interest. Small suppliers face disproportionate burdens from compliance requirements, while the complex procedures create barriers to market entry and competition. These functions could be handled through standard commercial contracts and existing legal frameworks without the need for this extensive federal regulatory apparatus.

Sets service standards for USPS special services, including 24-hour electronic notification for tracking services, 30-day insurance claim decisions, 15-day address corrections, and order fulfillment timelines.

Deleting would remove guaranteed service timelines for USPS customers, including businesses relying on tracking and individuals needing claims resolution. Without these standards, the government monopoly could delay services arbitrarily, harming predictability and consumer welfare. The standards provide a minimal accountability framework that would be difficult to achieve through private contracts given USPS's monopoly power.

This VA regulation establishes procedures for responding to data breaches of sensitive personal information, including definitions, breach criteria, mandatory independent risk analysis (unless accelerated response is warranted), and discretionary notification and credit protection services (monitoring, fraud resolution, identity theft insurance). The Secretary's determinations are final agency decisions.

The regulation imposes significant compliance costs on taxpayers (independent risk analyses, credit monitoring, insurance premiums) for an internal agency function that could be managed more efficiently through non-regulatory internal policies. It grants overly broad discretion to the Secretary, risking arbitrary outcomes and mission creep, while adding unnecessary bureaucratic overhead and complexity to the CFR without demonstrating that its prescriptive requirements are essential to protect veterans.

Establishes royalty rates and terms for public broadcasting entities to use copyrighted musical works, pictorial/graphic/sculptural works, and recording rights from 2023-2027, with different rates based on station type, audience size, and music usage levels.

Creates complex regulatory framework that increases compliance costs for public broadcasters while entrenching music licensing cartels (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR). The tiered royalty system based on station size and music usage creates barriers to entry for small stations and distorts market signals. These rates should be negotiated through voluntary contracts between broadcasters and copyright holders, not imposed by federal regulation.

Establishes comprehensive boating safety, environmental protection, and resource management rules for National Park Service waters, including adoption of Coast Guard regulations, operator age limits, equipment requirements, operational restrictions, alcohol prohibitions, accident reporting, and permit systems.

Deleting this regulation would increase accidents, injuries, and deaths in national parks; cause environmental damage from sewage discharge and noise pollution; degrade park resources; and create conflicts among visitors. It achieves safety and conservation through uniform standards that decentralized alternatives cannot match for federal property, where the government has legitimate authority to protect public resources and visitor welfare.

Comprehensive security and conduct regulations for the Pentagon Reservation, covering access control, prohibited items (weapons, explosives, alcohol, controlled substances), conduct rules, traffic laws, and enforcement mechanisms for the Department of Defense headquarters complex.

Americans would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because the Pentagon houses critical national security operations and military leadership. Without these security measures, the facility would be vulnerable to terrorist attacks, espionage, and unauthorized access that could compromise military operations, endanger lives, and threaten national security.

Implements the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 to protect archaeological sites on federal and Indian lands through permitting, penalties, and confidentiality provisions, establishing uniform definitions and procedures for excavation and removal of archaeological resources at least 100 years old.

Creates a federal bureaucracy that federalizes what should be state/local responsibility, imposes $2,000+ fines for artifact collection, and grants government control over private property rights on federal lands. The regulation's costs include criminalizing hobbyists, deterring scientific research through excessive permitting, and establishing precedents for expanding federal control over land use beyond constitutional limits.

Department of Defense regulation standardizing support to non-Federal entities (Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, American Red Cross, Armed Forces Entertainment program) operating on DoD installations. Designates Army and Air Force as Executive Agents, establishes uniform procedures to avoid preferential treatment, and requires compliance with applicable statutes and DoD financial regulations.

Without this regulation, DoD installations would lack uniform standards for supporting external organizations, leading to inconsistent treatment, potential favoritism, and misuse of military resources. The centralized oversight and clear accountability ensure that legitimate support for service members and families (through scouting, Red Cross, entertainment) is delivered efficiently while preventing arbitrary decisions that could waste taxpayer funds or provide unfair advantages.

Federal regulations governing Treasury's tax collection and investment program, establishing procedures for financial institutions to process federal tax payments and manage Treasury's excess operating funds through the Treasury Tax and Loan (TT&L) program.

This regulation creates a complex federal bureaucracy that federalizes what should be state/local functions, imposes costly compliance burdens on financial institutions, and enables government manipulation of banking operations through the TT&L program.

Prohibits export, melting, or treatment of US 5-cent and one-cent coins, with limited exceptions for legitimate uses, numismatic purposes, recycling, and licensed activities.

Unnecessary restriction on private property rights. Citizens should freely dispose of their legal tender. The regulation creates bureaucratic overhead for minor concerns; melting coins for metal value is already unprofitable given modern compositions. Market forces, not criminal penalties, should govern coin circulation.