The energy and environmental industries are readying themselves for an onslaught of sweeping new regulations from the Obama Administration. For those who oppose the changes, there may be little recourse even with the prospect of a new Republican-led Congress to block or stop the measures from advancing.

President Obama has been somewhat of a procrastinator by conveniently delaying implementation of a number of regulations until after the 2010, 2012, and last week’s elections. They are tied to court-ordered deadlines, legal mandates, and international climate agreements.

Coming down the pike are new ozone standards, regulations on the disposal of coal ash, prohibitions on states polluting the air of their neighbors, and restrictions of greenhouse gas emissions for future power plants. The president has agreed with China to curb carbon emissions over the next two decades. All of these will be implemented through executive action –bypassing Congress.

Environmental advocates are cheering the long-awaited regulations. The business community is beyond angry but scared about the impact of these added costs. The new ozone standards are expected to cost $270 billion each year in industry compliance costs and will be the most expensive regulations in history apparently.

The challenge for the current lame duck Congress and the new class coming in January, is that they can do very little to stop this onslaught.

Roll Call reports:

The Obama administration is set to roll out a series of climate and pollution measures that rivals any president’s environmental actions of the past quarter-century — a reality check for Republicans who think last week’s election gave them a mandate to end what they call the White House’s “War on Coal.”

The coming rollout includes a Dec. 1 proposal by EPA to tighten limits on smog-causing ozone, which business groups say could be the costliest federal regulation of all time; a final rule Dec. 19 for clamping down on disposal of power plants’ toxic coal ash; the Jan. 1 start date for a long-debated rule prohibiting states from polluting the air of their downwind neighbors; and a Jan. 8 deadline for issuing a final rule restricting greenhouse gas emissions from future power plants. That last rule is a centerpiece of Obama’s most ambitious environmental effort, the big plan for combating climate change that he announced at Georgetown University in June 2013.

The kicker for Republicans eager to stomp all over the president’s agenda: Congress has little immediate recourse, despite McConnell’s pledges to use “the spending process” to rein in EPA. With so much action rolling through the pipeline, Republicans will have to choose their battles carefully if they want to make headway while proving they can govern.

So what recourse does the GOP have? It may close its purse strings and starve the EPA of funding perhaps even passing agency-specific bills that undercut some rules. The hope is that lack of funding can take some of the wind out of the sails of these new regulations. There may not be much more than that to do.

These environmental regulations are just one example of the sweeping changes the president plans to institute through executive order between now and the end of his time in office.

Whether the predictions will be as dire as business groups claim, added regulations pile up regulatory costs for businesses that either get passed on to customers through higher prices or are borne by workers through layoffs. Higher operating costs also curb investment in business for growth and stymie expansion.

This is the lame duck world under a president who vows to rule by pen. The midterm election has done nothing to moderate or temper him. With both eyes on his legacy, the American economy and people are just roadblocks in his way.