Trump Administration Hits Snags in Effort to Halt Environmental Rules

Morning Consult discusses deregulatory happenings at the EPA with Myron Ebell. 

While the Trump administration has been aiming to make good on promises like rolling back clean air protections, legal pressure from conservation and public health advocates shows that hitting the brakes on existing regulations is easier said than done.

Following pressure from lawsuits, the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday said it won’t be implementing a previously announced one-year delay for the agency to weigh in on smog pollution compliance. States, as well as public health and environmental advocacy groups, challenged the initial announcement and other regulatory delays in federal court.

The EPA has not convinced judges of the lawful merits of delaying Obama-era environmental protections while it crafts its own proposals to overhaul regulations. However, if the EPA stops trying to fast-track regulatory rollbacks, experts say the agency could eventually replace existing regulations through the lengthier rulemaking process.

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Myron Ebell, who led Trump’s EPA transition team and is now director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said in a Tuesday interview that in the six months since Pruitt started leading the agency, he has been making good progress complying with Trump’s executive orders to cut regulation.

Read the full article at Morning Consult.