PUBLIC COMMENTS

“Public comments” are an instrument of civic engagement, separate from contacting elected representatives, but equally powerful in making our voices heard. This action group responds to the regulatory power of federal executive agencies, particularly now, as those agencies do the bidding of Trump’s anti-environmental, anti-human rights policies.

An important characteristic that the process of public comments shares with contacting an elected official: Anyone can submit public comments, regardless of citizenship, voter status, or age.

Our work is largely done online, with occasional in-person workshops. If you oppose what the Trump administration is doing, and want an additional “power tool” for resistance, consider joining us!

To join or for more information, contact Melinda (mueller.melinda@gmail.com).

All about public comments

What are public comments?

In 1946, the civic tool of “public comments” was established under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). The basic purposes of the APA are the following:

Require that agencies keep the public informed of their organization, procedures and rules;
Provide for public participation in the rulemaking process, for instance through public commenting;
Establish uniform standards for the conduct of formal rulemaking and adjudication;
Define the scope of judicial review of rules and regulations.

Under APA provisions, federal agencies must open a schedule and portal for public comments whenever a new regulation is being proposed, or when an existing regulation is to be revised or rescinded.

Agencies are then required to compile and review all substantive submitted comments. If moving forward with a regulation or rule, the agency must provide analysis showing how the final version addresses the public comments. (Here is an example of such analysis.) If the analysis is inadequate, a court may block the proposal.

Public comments are, importantly, public. They must be available for review by anyone. They are also evidentiary, and frequently used in citizen suits (lawsuits by private citizens to enforce a statute). Most environmental legislation provides for citizen suits, as do some other statutes (such as the Americans with Disabilities Act). Advocacy organizations, such as EarthJustice, often prosecute citizen suits, using public comments in evidence.

The regulatory process: legislation vs. regulation

After a bill passes Congress and becomes law, enforcement moves to the Executive branch. Under the statute’s umbrella, Federal agencies develop rules and regulations to carry out the law’s mandates. It is during the process of regulation development (and later revisions or rescissions) that public comments come into play.

There is no provision for sending an executive regulation back to Congress for approval. This is one reason why public comments are of great importance: In this instance, “We the People” have more power than legislators.

Want to take action?

How to make public comments

Here’s how to write and submit comments (and why we should)

Google Scholar search engine (to bolster our comments with expert testimony)
Federal Register website (where regulatory/deregulatory proposals are published, opening the public comments period)
Regulations.gov (the public comment portal for most regulatory proposals)

List of open proposals

Here’s a chronological list of regulatory/deregulatory proposals that are open for public comment.

The list includes links to talking points and to comment portals.
This list is not static. Melinda removes items as deadlines pass, and adds new ones when they arise.
If you learn of a regulatory/deregulatory proposal that’s not on the list, please email Melinda, with enough details so she can track it down and include it! (mueller.melinda@gmail.com)

Take action right now!

Oppose canceling the Roadless Rule that protects wilderness
Deadline Sept 21 before 08:59 PM PDT (The administration has opened a comment period that’s only 30 days from when this proposal was published.)

“The Trump administration advanced a plan to open nearly 45 million acres of wilderness in national forests to road construction and logging, removing protections that had been in place for a quarter-century. The proposal by the U.S. Forest Service would repeal the 2001 “roadless rule,” enacted to preserve the wild nature of forest land. It comes as President Donald Trump pressures the agency to increase logging and to thin forests to prevent wildfires.” (Seattle Times) [Note from the author of this article: Wildfires are less frequent in roadless forests.]

Talking points here, here, and here
Comment portal

Public comments in the age of Trump

In Trump’s second term, federal agencies have put forward hundreds of regulatory proposals, with deregulation emphasized. These proposals are frequently initiated by an executive order from Trump. The goals driving this regulatory/deregulatory push are these:

Roll back regulations that limit pollutants (including greenhouse gases), prioritizing corporate profits over environmental or human health.
Open more public lands to extractive industries (drilling for fossil fuels, mining, harvesting timber, cattle grazing). Again, corporate profits take priority over other public land uses (including tribal rights; archeological, scenic, or historical values; public recreation; habitat and wildlife protections; and environmental services the areas provide to nearby communities).
Limit access to rights and government-funded services for immigrants, BIPOC communities, those living in poverty, the disabled, and other vulnerable groups.
Reduce access to the vote, with an emphasis on disenfranchising groups perceived as in opposition to Trump and the GOP.
Accrue more power to the executive branch and less to Congress, the judiciary, and the states.

Having discovered that public comments are throwing sand in their gears (they keep losing citizen suits!), the administration is pursuing measures to limit public comments (such as shortening the length of time during which comments can be submitted).

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