EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, whose aggressive relaxing of environmental regulations has seemingly trumped his bevy of ethical quandaries in the eyes of the administration, is seeing many of his major changes stalled by procedural and legal problems, according to a Sunday Washington Post report.
In March, Pruitt reportedly tried to ease standards for storing possibly toxic waste on site of coal-burning plants by citing a study that environmentalists later determined to be sourced not by scientific research, but by the trade association for electric companies.
Similarly, Pruitt’s attempts to roll back emissions standards for cars and refurbished trucks have reportedly been held up by the EPA’s science advisors and the OMB, both of which question the environmental benefits of the move.
Pruitt has also been stymied in court. According to the Washington Post, over 70 lawsuits have been filed against various deregulatory actions, the agency having lost the majority of those so far heard in court.
Gee imagine that, Pruitt is as incompetent at his mission to deregulate within his Regulatory Agency, as he is at pretending to be serving the country rather than greedily committing graft. Guessing both areas of extreme incompetence stem from the same personal characteristic: extreme arrogance.
It is one of the few examples of when it might be prudent to be thankful for dude’s high degree of incompetence, as it limits the degree of damage he is leaving in his wake.
Wow who would have thought the Environmental Protection Agency would have rules prohibiting unprotecting the environment? Not only that but people who would question policies not beneficial to the environment.
This is at best a temporary inconvenience. They are working to eliminate this as quickly as possible.
Hang on Scotty !
This highlights the benefit of a competent government workforce that knows how to make lasting change stick. The Obama people knew how to institute change that would make it difficult for the burn-it-down types to just come in and undo progress wholesale. It may end up being a temporary setback for Pruitt, but assuming legal delay through the end of the current congress and a Democrat take over of the House and some of this stuff will never come to pass.