Confirmed by a 52-48 Senate roll call, Scott Pruitt begins his first workday as EPA administrator today with plans to address agency employees at midday. As attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt sued the EPA 14 times and was a leading opponent of its Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, a regulation that is reviled by farm groups who want to see it ditched.
An EPA news release said Pruitt “strongly believes environmental law, policy and progress are all based on cooperation among the states, cooperation between the states and EPA, and cooperation between regulators and the public.” Opponents fear cutbacks in funding and staffing at the agency and a retreat from action to constrain climate change. Backers say Pruitt will rein in an agency that imposes needless regulations on Americans.
The largest U.S. farm group, the American Farm Bureau Federation, said Pruitt would bring common sense to “EPA’s harsh regulatory over-reach.” The National Cotton Council alluded to President Trump’s opposition to WOTUS and said farmers want to “spend more time producing crops and less time worrying about how to comply with onerous, overly burdensome regulations and doing paperwork.” And the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said, “[W}e look forward to working with him on restoring regulatory sanity to Washington, such as by killing the onerous ‘Waters of the United States’ rule.”
The White House website says, “President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and Waters of the United States rule. Lifting these restrictions will greatly help American workers, increasing wages by more than $30 billion over the next seven years.” As a candidate, Trump said he wanted to dismantle the agency.
The EPA website featured a photo of Pruitt next to the words, “Welcome Administrator Scott Pruitt.” A news release by the agency quoted the head of CropLife America, a trade group for pesticide makers, saying Pruitt “has shown that he carefully listens to the needs of agriculture and other constituents and works to get policy outcomes that adhere to science and law. We are eager to share our priority issues with the new leadership at EPA, including the need for rigor in examining studies used in human health risk assessments. After Sonny Perdue is confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture, we can all focus on getting farmers the finest technology that science can bring.”