New Year, new American president. But while the world waits with baited breath for 20 January when Obama takes office, his predecessor has been busy issuing Executive Orders – new laws that do not need to be approved by congress – in an attempt to prolong his power, reward his buddies in business and generally continue ruining the world long after the end of his presidency.

Bush has signed more than 100 such orders and more are likely during his last fortnight in office. Below we look at some of the worst. It’s a horrible little list to say the least and it may depress you.

There is some hope as Obama is reviewing the orders and has indicated that he intends to overturn at least some when he takes the reins. He’ll need to hurry up though as after the orders complete a required 60-day waiting period they become more difficult to reverse.

1. Dumping mining waste in streams

First on this charming little list is a law that will make it easier for strip-mining operations to dump waste in streams. The practice involves blowing the tops of mountains in order to access coal seams and then pushing the rubble into valleys and streams below.
Federal mine inspector Larry Bush (no relation), who watched a stream near his house fill with silt from a nearby coal strip-mining operation, said: “I trapped minnows out of that stream nearly all my life, and there’s nothing in it anymore. It’s basically dead.”
Obama has criticised the practice, but the rule takes effect 12 Jan, about a week before Obama enters the White House, so may be hard to rescind.


2. Carrying concealed weapons in federal parks.

Number two is a law that will allow people to carry concealed and loaded firearms into national parks if the state in which the parkland resides allows concealed weapons. Because 48 states now allow concealed weapons, only three of the America’s 391 federal parks are exempt from the rule.
The Association of National Park Rangers has said that it is not uncommon for them to have to arrest people for taking pot shots at park animals, so this law probably won’t make their jobs any easier. So much for national parks being sanctuaries for wildlife.

3. US forces in Pakistan

Back in July (before the U.S. presidential elections and before the swearing in of Asif Ali Zardari as Pakistan’s new president) Bush issued an order that basically gave US Special Forces carte blanche to mount counter-terrorist operations inside Pakistani territory.
Since then US Navy Seal commandos, backed by attack helicopters, have launched ground raids in which Pakistani officials report that civilians have been killed. Aircraft and drones have also fired missiles at suspected targets.

4. Opening public lands to drilling

On Election Day, the Bush administration announced a decree which opened up about 360,000 acres of Utah public lands to oil and gas drilling.
Washington state congressman Brian Baird called it “an early Christmas present to the oil and gas industry, from a lame-duck administration with one foot already out the door”.
The offer included areas that are considered by many as worthy of wilderness status such as the Canyonlands and Arches national parks, as well as land containing the US’s greatest density of ancient rock art and other cultural resources that archaeologists fear will be destroyed in the development process.