New EPA chief will impact Utah's regulations on air pollution, water resources
- by Carmen Reese
- in Science
- — Dec 14, 2016
As a frequent court opponent of the EPA, Pruitt has rejected mainstream science on climate change and is expected to work to restrict the agency's environmental regulations, which he has called fedreal overreach. This standard is, of course, no standard at all, but rather base climate politics disguised as settled science.
In his capacity at the EPA, Pruitt could also tackle the agency's regulations aimed at reducing methane emissions during oil and gas production.
Some avow that Pruitt is the most openly hostile and unsafe EPA administrator since the agency's history when it comes to protecting the environment.
Pruitt is particularly hostile to government action to mitigate climate change and seeks to undermine its scientific basis, falsely characterizing the link between human activity and global temperature rise as an open scientific question. Congress should also step up and get engaged in addressing climate change.
As a lifelong Democrat, I may not agree with all of the President-elect's policies or nominees, but I do know that former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is a good choice to head up the Environmental Protection Agency. As Oklahoma's attorney general, he's been one of the main challengers of numerous Obama administration's environmental actions. E & E is a trade journal that covers environmental and energy policy and markets. Pruitt is also reportedly supported by Trump energy advisor Harold Hamm, the chairman and CEO of Continental Resources.
"Pruitt has a track record of dispelling the false idea that energy development and environmental stewardship can not go hand in hand".
Utah joined Oklahoma and two dozen other states suing the federal government over the Clean Power Plan, which proposes for the first time to invoke national standards limiting carbon pollution from power plants.
Obama's signature environmental rule, the Clean Power Plan, was a political fraud that, if it were to survive, would do little more than memorialize a transition already underway towards cheap natural gas in the power sector. See: "Revealed: The Trump Administration's Energy Plan".
We fear Pruitt will ease or eliminate regulation and the environment will suffer.