Scott Pruitt, hero of the revolution
4 Don Surber by Don Surber
When we think about war heroes in the Trump administration, we think of Generals James Mattis and John F. Kelly.
But how about a shout out to the fellow who is winning the war on coal?
Edward Scott Pruitt, the Kentucky-born administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is reining in the anti-capitalist Marxists in his department by wresting back control of EPA policy from the bureaucracy.
From the Washington Post:
In legal maneuvers and executive actions, in public speeches and closed-door meetings with industry groups, he has moved to shrink the agency’s reach, alter its focus and pause or reverse numerous environmental rules. The effect has been to steer the EPA in the direction sought by those being regulated.Along the way, Pruitt has begun to dismantle former president Barack Obama’s environmental legacy, halting the agency’s efforts to combat climate change and shift the nation away from its reliance on fossil fuels.Such aggressiveness on issues from coal waste to vehicle emissions has made Pruitt one of President Trump’s most high-profile and consequential Cabinet members. It also has made him one of the most controversial.For nearly half a century, Marxists have used the excuse of fighting pollution to place unnecessary burdens on industry in an attempt to cripple the American economy, the better to make the people subservient to the government.
For years, Marxist groups under the flag of environmentalism have sued the agency to get stricter regulations. The EPA surrendered under a sue-and-settle policy that allows the agency to expand its powers in a passive-aggressive way.
National Review on October 21 reported:
In 2010 alone, the Wild Earth Guardians accounted for 17 of 33 resolved suits and racked up an astonishing 94 percent settlement rate, presumably collecting huge amounts in attorney’s fees from taxpayers to help fund its continued litigation.But the sue-and-settle gravy train may soon be sidetracked — at least at the EPA. On Monday, Pruitt declared “the days of regulation through litigation are over.” He is directing the agency to take a series of steps intended to increase transparency, improve public participation, and provide direct accountability for the actions that EPA officials take.That includes forbidding the practice of entering into any settlements that “exceed the authority of the courts” and requiring that any proposed settlement be published for a 30-day public comment period. Congress could, and should, make such improvements permanent.These types of changes are needed not just at the EPA, but at every federal agency — including the Fish and Wildlife Service — to prevent the abuse of power perfected by the Obama administration.This month he turned tables on the Marxists.
The EPA bureaucracy just spent the past seven years battling Detroit's electric company -- DTE Energy -- over a construction permit. The company appealed to the Supreme Court. Pruitt surrendered.
Hahahaha.
The Post reported:
“We’ve spent 40 years putting together an apparatus to protect public health and the environment from a lot of different pollutants,” said William Ruckleshaus, the EPA’s first administrator, who led the agency under both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. “He’s pulling that whole apparatus down.”Yet, allies praise Pruitt for returning more power to individual states while scaling back what they see as the previous administration’s regulatory excesses.“It is a stark change, the way they solicit input from the industry that they’re seeking to regulate,” said Karen Harbert, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, who welcomes the shift.Fifty years ago, air pollution and water pollution were real, and the EPA was small.
But we have cleaned up our act, and yet the EPA keeps growing.
Pruitt is reversing that. Already, 770 employees have gone. His goal is to trim 25% of the payroll.
Look, I live across the river from a big coal-fired electric plant. Environmental laws are not abstractions to me.
But using pollution as an excuse to make energy as expensive as possible is Marxist. Pruitt fights the good fight. |
