It seemed like a good idea at the time: In February the Office of Management and Budget launched a website at www.regulations.gov where all proposed federal regulations would be posted and citizens could file comments on them

The folks at regulations.gov have been almost as lonely as the Maytag repairman.

The General Accounting Office reported that only 200 comments were filed through the site in its first three months of existence.

EPA, which operates regulations.gov, says it’s unfair to judge the site on its first three months in operation.

But GAO said that, although all pending rules were posted, most of them did not direct users to the full text or to the Web page where they could file comments.

GAO also noted that many agency websites don’t give clear directions to the location of a list of proposed rules.

By 2005, agencies are to eliminate their individual dockets and post proposed rules only to regulations.gov.

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