Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Bush administration proposals to ease emission requirements for factories and require some foods to carry country-of-origin labels are among pending regulations that President Barack Obama blocked on his first day in office.

“It is important that President Obama’s appointees and designees have the opportunity to review and approve any new or pending regulations,” said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in a memo yesterday to all federal departments and agencies. The action seeks to block regulations that aren’t yet in effect so the new administration can review them.

New presidents have often sought to stop proposals made in the last days of the previous chief executive. President George W. Bush froze publication of rules in the Federal Register when he took office, blocking regulations offered by President Bill Clinton. This year, the Bush administration sought to make about two dozen rules effective before he left office yesterday so that changing them would require congressional action or a lengthy administrative process.

Emanuel’s memo directs agencies not to move any pending rule through the process that makes it final and asks agency officials to extend for 60 days their effectives dates.

‘First Step’

“This memo represents the Obama administration’s first step in reversing the regulatory policies of the Bush administration,” said Reece Rushing, director of regulatory policy at the Center for American Progress. “It provides time for the new political leadership to review last-minute Bush actions and decide what to throw out or revise.”

One proposed rule frozen by Obama would make it easier for industrial plants and refineries to expand operations without applying for new pollution permits under the Clean Air Act. Environmentalists have said the rule could let factory owners avoid investing in emission-control equipment.

The freeze also halts an Agriculture Department rule that sets requirements for country-of-origin labeling on meat and other perishable food items. Opponents of the measure said the Bush rule would let meat produced in a domestic facility that also processes animals from abroad carry a multicountry designation, blurring the distinctions between U.S. and imported meats.

“The Emanuel memo would give USDA an opportunity to tighten up the rule,” said Matt Madia, a regulatory policy analyst for OMB Watch, a Washington-based government watchdog group.

In addition, the memo halts a Department of Interior plan, proposed by the Bush administration, to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes from the endangered species list. “So far as wolves are concerned, this is a stay of execution,” Andrew Wetzler, director of the endangered species project for the National Resources Defense Council, wrote on the group’s Web site.

To contact the reporters on this story: Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington at hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net; Cindy Skrzycki at cskrzycki@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 21, 2009 15:23 EST