The year's holiday announcements kicked off last month, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service chose the day after Thanksgiving to announce its "incidental take rule" allowing for the killing of polar bears and Pacific walrus by oil companies drilling on the North Slope of Alaska.[1]

Late-afternoon announcements on Fridays are another tactic. On Friday, Dec. 5, the Administration announced proposed rollbacks to Clinton-era grazing regulations meant to limit damage to public lands by livestock.[2]

Last year, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) dubbed the Administration's slew of stealth announcements a "holiday sneak attack" on the environment.[3]

The 2002 announcements included the release -- on New Year's Eve -- of a controversial rule allowing tuna caught by fishermen encircling dolphins to qualify for the "dolphin-safe" label. Revisions to the Clean Air Act to allow power plants and refineries to expand without having to install anti-pollution equipment were also announced on New Year's Eve. On Thanksgiving eve came the announcement that logging would be allowed in national forests with less environmental oversight.

In 2001, the Army Corps of Engineers released its Everglades restoration plan -- criticized by Everglades advocates as inadequate -- on the Friday after Christmas. And also that year, when the National Park Service was considering a controversial permit to allow gas drilling on Padre Island National Seashore -- the only U.S. nesting grounds for the world's most endangered sea turtle -- it gave public notice in the Federal Register the day after Thanksgiving. The public comment period closed on Christmas Eve.[4]

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SOURCES:
[1] Federal Register notice, Nov. 28, 2003
[2] Bureau of Land Management press release, Dec. 5, 2003
[3] Sen. Leahy press release, Dec. 23, 2002
[4] Sierra Club fact sheet