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EPA Tag

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 28, 2017 17 Comments
The last time we checked in on the Environmental Protection Agency, a long-time staffer and social justice warrior had just tendered his resignation after recognizing the political climate had dramatically changed. Things are about to get a little hotter for this merry band of bureaucrats, as they are being sued by Judicial Watch.
The watchdog group is seeking copies of the EPA's proposals and awards for environmental justice grants delivered in 2014 and 2015, and said it hasn't been provided with any documents yet.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 28, 2017 13 Comments
Hot stock tip: invest in companies producing anti-smog surgical masks. That is, if you buy into Chris Cuomo's environmental alarmism. On CNN this morning, the panel discussed the Trump admin's announcement yesterday that it plans to roll back some of the Obama-era EPA regs viewed as overly restrictive on the coal industry. Cuomo claimed that the Obama regs are "seen as key to keeping the United States from looking like Shanghai in terms of blowing all kinds of black smoke into the air."

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 20, 2017 25 Comments
President Trump directed the Environmental Protection Agency to shelve aggressive vehicle fuel economy targets that have been a foundation for promoting climate change alarmism policies that have hurt the American automotive industry.
Trump revealed his plans during a speech at an automotive testing center near Detroit after discussing the issue during a round-table meeting at the American Center for Mobility with auto company executives and workers. "This is going to be a new era for American jobs and job creation," Trump said at the meeting.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 16, 2017 11 Comments
President Donald Trump released his plan for the 2018 federal budget titled "America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again." The plan includes cuts to some departments and slashes programs in order to reallocate funds to a bigger defense budget. "One of the most important ways the Federal Government sets priorities is through the Budget of the United States," wrote Trump. "Accordingly, I submit to the Congress this Budget Blueprint to reprioritize Federal spending so that it advances the safety and security of the American people."

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 11, 2017 12 Comments
The Environmental Protection Agency's new chief is now on-the-record as declaring that the life-sustaining gas, carbon dioxide, is not responsible for "global warming".
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Thursday he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. "I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 03, 2017 8 Comments
Savvy Legal Insurrection readers may have already noticed the historic stock market levels that ensued after President Trump's address to the Congress. However, I think that only part of this optimism stem's from Trump's well received speech. I suspect another aspect to this optimism is that businesses are beginning to enjoy the regulatory relief from new rules that is the direct result of the President's very busy pen.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 28, 2017 12 Comments
During the Obama era, many taxpayers had to trim back discretionary expenses for luxury items, like gym memberships. However, some of our government bureaucrats enjoyed those perks...using our tax dollars. A detailed audit of expenditures for 2016 revealed that the EPA's money management was polluted by improper purchases.
Environmental Protection Agency employees used their government purchase cards to spend $14,985 on fitness memberships, according to an audit by the inspector general of the agency. With the goal of assessing the risk of illegal, improper, and erroneous purchases made on the EPA's purchase card, the auditors evaluated 18 transactions totaling $48,345 and found that none of them complied with any of the internal controls that were tested.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on February 25, 2017 18 Comments
In May of 2015, the Obama administration engaged in one of its more shocking and unacceptable power grabs with the EPA's Waters of the United States rule.  President Trump, thus far clearly intent on keeping his campaign promises, is going to reverse this onerous overreach of the federal government as early as Wednesday. Writing at the time of the rule's announcement, I noted that the scope of the rule was such that it included, quite literally, puddles in one's driveway or yard.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 22, 2017 26 Comments
The political climate of the EPA can be expected to change more rapidly, now that its new head has started his first day at the agency.
Scott Pruitt told EPA employees Tuesday that he’s committed to protecting the environment and upholding the agency’s core mission, but he also signaled that major changes are ahead as he begins to dismantle much of former President Obama’s climate change agenda. In his first address to the agency workforce, Mr. Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general who was confirmed as EPA administrator last Friday, said he intends to keep an open mind and draw from the experience of those inside the department....

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 17, 2017 30 Comments
The Senate has confirmed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA with 52 yes votes and 46 no votes. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was the only Republican to vote no. Pruitt received two Democrat yes votes: Heidi Heitkamp from North Dakota and Joe Manchin from West Virginia.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 16, 2017 27 Comments
This may be the beginning of the end of one of the most business-crushing entities in the nation. President Donald Trump is poised to introduce a series of executive actions aimed at scaling back Obama-era climate change initiatives.
The president intends to sign the actions during a visit to the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters to swear in Scott Pruitt as head of the agency, Inside EPA reported Tuesday, citing an administration source. The timing of the event has not been determined because the full Senate has not yet confirmed Pruitt.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 15, 2017 21 Comments
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has told Maine Public Radio that she will vote against Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA. She acknowledged his accomplishments, but the two of them have too many different views when it comes to the EPA:
“Specifically, I have significant concerns that Mr. Pruitt has actively opposed and sued the EPA on numerous issues that are of great importance to the state of Maine, including mercury controls for coal-fired power plants and efforts to reduce cross-state air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” she says. “His actions leave me with considerable doubts about whether his vision for the EPA is consistent with the agency’s critical mission to protect human health and the environment.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 04, 2017 17 Comments
The political sailing has not been smooth for many of President Trump's nominees, and the process of approving Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency is no exception. After being a target of one of the many Democratic Senate committee boycotts, Pruit cleared the log-jam:
Senate Republicans pressed forward on Thursday with the confirmation of President Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, suspending the Environment and Public Works Committee’s rules to approve the cabinet pick despite a Democratic boycott.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 25, 2017 48 Comments
I asserted that the most rogue agency under the Obama Administration was the Environmental Protection Agency. I think President Trump, who is focused on reducing America's regulatory burden, agrees. Not even a week into his presidency, it appears that Trump has put a freeze on spending for that agency.
President Donald Trump's administration has ordered ordered a freeze on some Environmental Protection Agency grants and contracts to states, as the department braces for more dramatic changes going forward.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 18, 2017 13 Comments
As President Obama spends the remainder of his presidency pardoning trangenders who disclosed vital security information, appointing fabulists to key positions, and releasing dangerous Gitmo detainees, people are beginning to mull over what we will remember most about this era. I assert that the damage caused by the rogue bureaucracy within the Environmental Protection Agency will float to the top of legacy cesspool. So, while Democratic politicos grill Scott Pruitt, the candidate likely to head the EPA in the Trump administration, the agency has finished its misrule under Obama appropriately enough.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 18, 2017 24 Comments
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the EPA, will face the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at 10AM EST. This has potential to become one of the more feisty confirmation hearings because of his ties to everything Democrats hate: fossil fuels, skeptical of man-made climate change, and lawsuits against the EPA. Please watch live with us below and follow along as I live blog the hearing!

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 04, 2017 6 Comments
The Clean Air Moms Action, part of the Environmental Defense Action Fund, has started a $100,000 campaign against President-elect Donald Trump's EPA nominee Scott Pruitt. The campaign will use children's health concerns in ads in Washington, D.C. and six states that have "senators who could swing the confirmation vote." What an original technique! Using children to attack your opponent because you don't hate children, do you? Yeah, well, evidence has shown that Pruitt embraces science. Also, the EPA has done a stellar job with environment disasters, haven't they?

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 14, 2016 28 Comments
The recent report issued about the relationship between fracking and drinking water is a classic example of how the elite media generates fake news, in the effort to virtue signal and get readers. In June of last year, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a report indicating that fracking isn’t causing widespread damage to the nation’s drinking water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—after a four-year study that is the U.S. government’s most comprehensive examination of the issue to date—concluded that hydraulic fracturing, as being carried out by industry and regulated by states, isn’t having “widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water.”
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