CEI Response to Announcement of Pruitt Nomination for EPA Administrator

The Competitive Enterprise Institute responded to the report that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has been nominated as the next EPA Administrator under President-elect Donald Trump.

CEI’s William Yeatman said, “Unlike the last two agency chiefs, the next EPA administrator should work with, rather than against, the states. EPA’s authorizing statutes require that the agency work together with states to improve the environment. But over the last 8 years, cooperative federalism has become coercive federalism, as the EPA has effectively replaced its state partners with environmentalist zealots from the ranks of green special interests. CEI would like to see the next EPA administrator return to working with states for the best steps forward on environmental policy.”

Marlo Lewis said, “The Obama administration has turned EPA into a green revolving door. Former eco-activists working at EPA provide grants to their former employers and allies. Those groups, in turn, mount lobbying campaigns on behalf of EPA. They even provide policy direction to the agency. The Clean Power Plan, for example, was basically authored by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“Green pressure groups have come to think of EPA as their hereditary fiefdom. That could end if someone like Scott Pruitt becomes the administrator. Pruitt has been a leader in the pushback against EPA’s unlawful regulatory overreach and destructive war on coal. His nomination means that when it comes to environmental and energy policy, President-elect Trump not only talks the talk, he walks the walk.”