This op-ed originally ran in the Miami Herald.
The forced resignation of Scott Pruitt as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brought celebration and relief in many quarters. Pruitt was a walking scandal machine who generated an endless stream of headlines about spending abuses, cozy relationships with industry lobbyists, first-class travel at government expense, and aides asked to perform personal tasks, including buying lotions and mattresses and unsuccessfully helping his wife land a Chick-fil-A franchise.
Of more lasting consequence, he loyally adhered to the extreme, anti-environmental policies of his boss, President Trump. So, while Pruitt's departure was good news for anyone who's serious about public corruption, it remains to be seen whether it will have any impact on environmental policy.
Pruitt initiated a massive rollback of EPA regulations. He openly questioned the well-established science of climate change, and he presided over the dismantling of his agency's tardy, but ambitious, attempts to limit greenhouse gas pollution from power plants and motor vehicles. He also cut back significantly on efforts to protect water quality, proposed major cuts in the size of EPA's already much-diminished staff, thwarted efforts to conduct independent scientific research and imposed policies that undercut the agency's crucial enforcement work.
Pruitt's deputy administrator, Andrew K. Wheeler, will serve as acting administrator of the EPA for the foreseeable future. He's a long-time Washington insider and a former chief of staff to Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe — the Senate's most prominent climate change denier. Wheeler spent nine years as a lobbyist for various business clients, including a major coal company. Unlike Pruitt, who harbored hopes of high elected office, Wheeler has shunned the spotlight. To his credit, he told EPA employees that he is open to hearing their advice on policy matters — a welcome change from Pruitt's practice of ignoring and isolating his staff. He has also promised to instill more transparency in EPA's work.
Notwithstanding these pledges of a more solicitous management style, there is no evidence that Wheeler plans to depart from the radical, safeguards-busting policies of his predecessor, policies strongly favored by President Trump. If he hopes to keep his job, let alone be nominated and confirmed to be EPA's administrator without the "acting" in his title, he will likely want to impress the boss. That makes serious deviations from Pruitt's positions unlikely since they're Trump's positions, as well.
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Joel A. Mintz | August 2, 2018
This op-ed originally ran in the Miami Herald. The forced resignation of Scott Pruitt as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brought celebration and relief in many quarters. Pruitt was a walking scandal machine who generated an endless stream of headlines about spending abuses, cozy relationships with industry lobbyists, first-class travel at government […]
Wendy Wagner | August 1, 2018
Originally published on The Regulatory Review. Reprinted with permission. In a previous essay, we critiqued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently proposed transparency rule, arguing that the proposal conflicts with best scientific practices and would further erode the EPA’s ability to do its job. According to supporters, the central goal of the proposed rule is […]
Matt Shudtz | August 1, 2018
Andrew Wheeler will be on the hot seat today when he heads to Capitol Hill for his first appearance before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as Acting Administrator of the EPA. Senators initially scheduled the hearing when Scott Pruitt was Administrator and his ethical problems had reached such epic proportions that his party's […]
Joel A. Mintz | July 31, 2018
This op-ed originally ran in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Recent events have underscored the vital importance of effective environmental regulation for Floridians. Blue green algae — apparently caused by releases of contaminated water from Lake Okeechobee — has blanketed significant portions of our state’s east and west coasts, causing major economic losses and posing a […]
Lisa Heinzerling | July 31, 2018
Originally published on The Regulatory Review. Reprinted with permission. In the fitting last act of his corrupt reign as the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt handed a gift to companies who profit from producing cheaper trucks by dispensing with modern pollution control equipment. He arranged for political appointees at EPA to […]
Thomas McGarity | July 30, 2018
This commentary was originally published by The American Prospect. Most of us take for granted the federal regulations that make our air cleaner, our drinking water purer, our food, highways, and workplaces safer, and our economic transactions less vulnerable to fraud and abuse. And few of us realize the extent to which those protections are […]
Evan Isaacson | July 27, 2018
Today, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office of the Environmental Protection Agency officially released its assessment of Chesapeake Bay restoration progress. This marked the formal conclusion of the multi-year process known as the "midpoint assessment" for the Chesapeake's cleanup plan.
Joseph Tomain | July 26, 2018
This post is part of a series on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. When Judge Brett Kavanaugh was nominated for the open U.S. Supreme Court seat, I was interested in his energy law opinions and began reading them together with some of his environmental law decisions. They seem to be written by two […]
Evan Isaacson | July 25, 2018
This post is part of a series on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. President Trump's nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court has enormous environmental and public health implications – true of any high court nomination, but particularly true in this case because he would replace Justice […]