Share
While We Scream for Scott Pruitt to be Removed, He Continues Gutting EPA
As we have said dozens of times, Scott Pruitt is in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency yet he would love nothing more than to erase it from existence. He's living out his wildest fantasy with this sadistic opportunity to destroy it from the inside while exhibiting corruption at a level not previously imaginable. In Pruitt's mind, nothing, even the future our the one planet we have, should stand in the way of corporations doing whatever they want to maximize profits.
While the headlines are filled with examples of his corruption and ethical violations, he remains in power and continues to take actions to destroy our environment. Those actions don't get the same headlines but the newest are outlined below.
Pruitt, the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, has sought to make his name as the Trump administration’s most effective eraser of regulations on American industry. On Tuesday [April 3rd], he formally announced his most sweeping regulatory rollback to date: a plan to weaken President Obama’s stringent rules on planet-warming tailpipe emissions. Pruitt’s proposal is designed to unravel a signature piece of Mr. Obama’s environmental legacy, hand a victory to the American automakers and please his boss. But instead of basking in glory, Mr. Pruitt is caught up in a swirl of allegations of impropriety.
Mr. Pruitt unveiled his rollback in a hastily announced presentation at E.P.A. headquarters.... Trump phoned Mr. Pruitt to reassure him that his job was safe. “Keep your head up, keep fighting, we got your back”....
In his first year on the job, Mr. Pruitt initiated the rollbacks of more than two dozen major environmental rules. The proposed rollback on vehicle mileage and emissions standards that he announced Tuesday is arguably the largest of those.
.... announced that fuel-efficiency regulations for cars and light trucks are too stringent and must be revised, beginning a process sought by the U.S. auto industry to pare anti-pollution targets. The national greenhouse gas emission targets that were a signature element of former President Obama’s climate-change policy.... At Trump’s request, Mr. Pruitt declared the auto regulation too onerous on industry and filed a legal document to reconsider it....
It dovetails with other steps to unwind actions aimed at combating climate change, such as Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the EPA’s repeal of a rule slashing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. “The American public overwhelmingly supports strong vehicle standards because they cut the cost of driving, reduce air pollution, and combat climate change,” said Luke Tonachel, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s clean vehicles program. “Backing off now is irresponsible and unwarranted.”
Pruitt made this announcement yet avoided any questions. He and the EPA tried to only allow Fox News in but that didn't work.
.... reporters who cover the agency weren't in the room, and cameras were nearly non-existent. EPA had attempted to allow television camera access to Fox News without informing the other four networks: CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS. Fox alerted the networks and a pool was established allowing networks equal access to the event. A CNN journalist in the building was not allowed into the room for the event.
....congressional correspondent Mary Bruce shouted questions at the administrator as he appeared to be filing out of the room after his remarks on Tuesday....
That is NOT all that Pruitt is up to while no one pays attention to his deregulatory actions. He has also taken sole control of enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
Key provisions in the Clean Water Act are now under the control of one person at the US Environmental Protection Agency -- Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to a leaked memo obtained by CNN.
In the new directive, Pruitt states he will make final critical decisions about preservation of streams, ponds and wetlands.
Pruitt is making the process of evaluating environmental issues into a political one rather than scientific. He believes he knows more than decades of scientific research and is using his power to take control. This ought to be in an stay in the headlines.
The move appears to change the approval process to lessen the role of EPA employees and scientists when it comes to evaluating whether a project has a significant negative environmental impact on waterways or wetlands. These projects could be anything from transportation projects to new residential housing, coal mining, oil projects, even Trump's border wall or "any other project that discharges ... fill material into a wetland or waterway"....
Traditionally, regional EPA offices and career EPA scientists review the requests for permits to determine whether the project is detrimental to the local environment and the larger goal of waterway and wetland preservation.
Now a man in DC who knows nothing about local environmental conditions will be making the decisions about wetlands and waterways he's probably never seen.
Before this memo, if a regional office determined it was best to veto a project proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers, EPA headquarters would approve the veto, Kyla Bennett, the New England director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said. "Headquarter approval was just a rubber stamp because they knew regional offices and scientists had the expertise," she said.
"This action subjects safeguards for clean water across the US to filtration through one politician's hands," said Bennett, an attorney, scientist and wetlands specialist who formerly worked for the EPA. "Every corporation that wants a pass on Clean Water Act compliance is invited to privately meet with the most user-friendly EPA administrator in history."
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/climate/pruitt-epa-apartment-emissions.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/04/politics/clean-water-act-epa-memo/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/03/politics/pruitt-epa-avoided-tough-questions/index.html