Cutting Overreach, Regulations and Saving Taxpayers Billions: Andrew Wheeler’s EPA Picks Up Where Scott Pruitt Left Off

by Mike Howell   The Senate will soon get a chance to put its stamp of approval on the great work of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump. Andrew Wheeler, the current acting administrator, will soon be up for a vote to be confirmed as the EPA’s 15th administrator. He’s been serving as deputy administrator since April 2018 and acting administrator since Scott Pruitt resigned last July. Wheeler’s likely advance comes at a time when the Senate chamber – and the entire country – is debating the left’s radical Green New Deal proposal. The “Green Raw Deal,” as some have taken to calling it, aims to usher in enormously costly socialist policies in the name of environmental protection. Some of the proposals include the elimination of air travel, guaranteed income for those unwilling to work, and replacing every single building in America. It’s a fantasy wish list that screams government overreach. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] The proposals have been embraced by leading politicians on the far left, but mostly mocked in the mainstream as more details and analysis have emerged.…

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Enviros Launch Campaign Against Trump’s Pick To Replace Scott Pruitt At EPA

by Michael Bastach   Environmentalists kicked off the new year with a campaign to derail the nomination of Andrew Wheeler, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Make no mistake — to protect our health, planet, economy, and national security we must #StopWheeler from being permanently confirmed as @EPA administrator,” the Sierra Club tweeted Monday. Make no mistake – to protect our health, planet, economy, and national security we must #StopWheeler from being permanently confirmed as @EPA administrator. https://t.co/CMhvJBHlkY — Sierra Club (@SierraClub) January 7, 2019 The tweet linked to an Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) blog post calling Wheeler “unfit to lead EPA.” “Andrew Wheeler has ramped up Scott Pruitt’s relentless attack on public health and environmental safeguards,” EDF’s Martha Roberts wrote in her Jan. 3 blog post. Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, took over as EPA’s acting administrator in 2018 after former Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned. Wheeler was confirmed by the Senate in April 2018 as EPA’s deputy administrator, making him Pruitt’s number two at the time. Pruitt resigned in July amid a slew of ethics allegations and negative media coverage. Democrats and environmentalists also opposed Pruitt’s pushing Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda. Wheeler, so far, has continued Pruitt’s…

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Scott Pruitt’s Parting Gift: Nixing One More Obama-Era Regulation

by Michael Bastach   A regulation to strictly limit the sale of refurbished truck engines was effectively repealed on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s final day in office. Pruitt’s last day at the agency was Friday, but that same day, EPA shifted its policy towards glider kits, which are trucks with refurbished engines. EPA would not enforce limits on glider kit sales until December 2019. Pruitt announced his resignation on Thursday amid a slew of ethics investigations. EPA officials told The New York Times “that, through the end of 2019, the EPA will not enforce an annual cap of 300 gliders per manufacturer that had been imposed in January.” The change comes as EPA prepares to finalize its repeal of regulations on glider sales. Glider manufacturer Fitzgerald petitioned Pruitt in 2017 to lift Obama era regulations. EPA was supposed to submit a finalized repeal of glider regulations earlier this year, but bureaucratic delays have kept Obama-era regulations in place. The Obama administration issued glider regulations in 2016, getting around the Clean Air Act by reclassifying gliders as “new motor vehicles.” Gliders are refurbished truck engines placed inside a new chassis. Environmentalists and major truck manufacturers, including Volvo, oppose lifting regulations on gliders.…

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Amid Investigations, Embattled EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Blames ‘Unrelenting Attacks’ Against Him, His Family In Resignation Letter

EPA Chief Scott Priutt

by Michael Bastach   Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt cited “unrelenting attacks” against himself and his family in his resignation letter that was delivered to President Donald Trump on Thursday. Pruitt thanked Trump for allowing him to serve at EPA, but says “the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and taken a sizeable toll on all of us,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Here’s Pruitt’s full letter to Trump: Mr. President, it has been an honor to serve you in the Cabinet as Administrator of the EPA. Truly, your confidence in me has blessed me personally and enabled me to advance your agenda beyond what anyone anticipated at the beginning of your Administration. Your courage, steadfastness and resolute commitment to get results for the American people, both with regard to improved environmental outcomes as well as historical regulatory reform, is in fact occurring at an unprecedented pace and I thank you for the opportunity to serve you and the American people in helping achieve those ends. That is why it is hard for me to advise you I am stepping down as Administrator of the EPA effective…

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Emails Suggest EPA Officials Colluded With Lobbyists To Thwart Trump’s Agenda

Steve Milloy

by Michael Bastach   An attorney and junk science blogger uncovered emails suggesting lobbyists and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials coordinated on an effort to preserve regulations on used truck engine manufacturers. “The purpose, of course, was to embarrass and intimidate the Trump EPA into aborting the rollback of the Obama EPA rule,” JunkScience.com publisher Steve Milloy (pictured) told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, Milloy obtained emails between two lobbyists at Volvo Group North America, and high-ranking officials in Ann Arbor, Mich., where EPA’s vehicle emissions testing lab is located. “The emails show that Volvo lobbyists were working to supplying EPA staff with glider trucks so that rogue EPA staff could dishonestly ‘test’ glider emissions and issue a damning report that could be waved about at a public hearing on the proposed rule rollback,” Milloy said. Volvo opposes repealing regulations on glider kits — new truck bodies that use refurbished engines and are substantially cheaper to buy than trucks with new engines. Volvo and other truck engine makers joined environmentalists in lobbying the Obama administration to regulate glider kits in 2016. The Trump administration EPA is working towards repealing the glider kit rule, but…

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Trump’s EPA Chief Charts a New Course: An Interview With Scott Pruitt

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt spoke to me earlier this week at The Heritage Foundation’s annual President’s Club meeting in Washington. We discussed his leadership of the EPA, the agency’s top priorities, and what Pruitt considers true environmentalism. An edited transcript of our interview, along with the full video, is below. Bluey: You’ve had a…

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EPA Begins Phase-Out of President Obama’s ‘Clean Power Plan,’ Reports Move Will Save $33 Billion

The Trump administration on Tuesday formally moved to ax the Clean Power Plan (CPP), beginning a lengthy process to dismantle a key Obama-era climate rule and arguing that the repeal will save $33 billion in compliance costs over the next 13 years. In a statement, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the plan, designed to limit carbon…

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