Pruitt Gives First Interview After Taking Over at EPA

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Maybe Scott Pruitt won’t be as bad as environmentalists and Democrats think as he is now in charge of the direction where the Environmental Protection Agency will head in a Trump administration.

In his first interview since being nominated last year, Pruitt told the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel there is much to do hitting air-quality targets.

“Under current measurements, some 40% of the country is still in nonattainment,” said Pruitt. And there is cleaning up toxic waste.

“We’ve got 1,300 Superfund sites and some of them have been on the list for more than three decades.”

While environmentalists labeled him a climate-denier who will work only to help the oil and gas industry, Pruitt offered indications he wants to return the agency to its basics.

“Agencies exist to administer the law. Congress passes statutes and those statutes are very clear on the job EPA has to do. We’re going to do that job.”

In other words, Pruitt intends to refocuses the EPA on its statutorily defined mission. He sees it as working together with states to improve water and air quality.

One of his first moves will not be liked by environmentalists and Democrats. He plans to waste no time in withdrawing the Clean Power Plan and the 2015 Watrs of the U.S. Rule.

“There’s a very simple reason why this needs to happen: Because the courts have seriously called into question the legality of those rules,” explained Pruitt who admits he will make a change in direction from the woman he succeeded at EPA, Gina McCarthy. “This past administration didn’t bother with statutes. They displaced Congress, disregarded the law, and in general said they would act in their own way. That now ends.”

He was asked about the EPA regulating carbon dioxide and Pruitt answered by saying there will be a rule-making process to withdraw the rules.

“And part of that process is a very careful review of a fundamental question: Does EPA even possession the tools, under the Clean Air act to address this? It’s a fair question to ask if we do, or whether thee in fact needs to be a congressional response to the climate issue.”

He also has some advice to the bureaucrats who work at the EPA.

“I am committed to the role of this agency. The administration is committed to the role of this agency. There is so much to accomplish. So it’s important that the career staff here at the EPA know this isn’t a disregard for the agency—it’s a restoration of its priorities.”