CEI President Commends EPA Administrator Pruitt for Progress Made on Regulatory Reform

This morning, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment Subcommittee to discuss the EPA’s mission.

CEI President Kent Lassman commends Administrator Pruitt for the progress EPA has made this year rolling back the agency’s unaccountable regulatory Goliath.

This year, EPA Administrator Pruitt has brought clarity to the federal government’s role in environmental protection by focusing on the job and authority that Congress has delegated to the EPA. He took on “sue and settle,” where large special interests file lawsuits against the agency to dictate EPA priorities. He is introducing accountability to an agency that routinely misses required deadlines to monitor or regulate air and water quality. He has changed the culture of self-dealing that causes conflicts of interests among members of EPA’s advisory boards, who also happen to be recipients of millions of EPA grant dollars.

Administrator Pruitt has also underscored his commitment to ensuring Americans have access to affordable and reliable energy by repealing the Clean Power Plan and encouraging President Trump to withdraw from the Paris Climate Treaty. In tomorrow’s hearing, CEI hopes Pruitt will address further plans to revise air quality standards, cut unaccountable EPA programs, and revisit the endangerment finding.