"Screw It" Pruitt - aka EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt

I worked for several years for the Environmental Protection Agency under the leadership of Carol Browner, whom I loved, and Christine Todd Whitman, whom I disliked.   (I didn't like the directive to address her as "Governor Whitman," actually.)  The current Administrator is the 14th, and he was appointed by the 45th President; I completely loathe both of these men.
  (Edward) Scott Pruitt was born in Danville, Kentucky in May 1968; his family moved to Lexington, Kentucky when he was a boy.  He was awarded an athletic scholarship to the University of Kentucky, but moved on to Georgetown College after a year, where he graduated with degrees in political science and communication.  He then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he earned his Juris Doctor law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1993.
  After law school, Pruitt started a solo legal practice in Tulsa that he named "Christian Legal Services," which focused on defending Christians in religious liberty cases. He worked out of that office for 5 years before running for the Oklahoma state senate, and he won the election, representing Tulsa and Wagoner counties for two terms.
   After two years in the state senate, Pruitt was selected to serve as the Republican whip from 2001 to 2003.  He was then selected to serve as the Republican Assistant Floor Leader, until 2006.  During that time, he also sat as chairman of a task force for the American Legislative Exchange Council.  There, he sponsored a workers'-compensation reform bill that sought to impose drug tests on workers who were involved in on-the-job injuries or accidents.  In 2005, Pruitt told a radio interviewer that there are "not sufficient scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution."
  In 2010, Pruitt was elected the Attorney General of Oklahoma.  In that role, he opposed abortion rights, same-sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act, and almost all environmental regulations as a self-described "leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda."  In his campaigns for Oklahoma Attorney General, Pruitt received major corporate and employee campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry, taking at least $215,574 between 2010 and 2014, even though he ran unopposed in 2014.  In his role as Attorney General of Oklahoma, he sued the Environmental Protection Agency at least 14 times.  Pruitt was elected as chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association in 2012, and was re-elected for a second term in 2013.
  Administrator Pruitt rejects the scientific consensus that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions are a primary contributor to climate change; and has falsely claimed there is no scientific consensus on climate change.  As EPA leader, Pruitt has reversed and delayed numerous environmental rules, relaxed enforcement of existing rules, and has halted the agency's efforts to combat climate change.
Pruitt assumed the office of EPA Administrator on 17 February 2017.
  By the middle of this month, April 2018, Pruitt is under 10 (ten) separate investigations by the Government Accountability Office, the EPA's Inspector General, the White House Office of Management and Budget, and two Congressional House committees over his spending habits, conflicts of interest and management practices.  His spending extravagances include having spent over $3 million for his personal security team of 20+, which has included security at the Rose Bowl, Disneyland, basketball games and family vacations.  He has spent $43,000 for a "sound proof phone booth" inside his office, plus has greatly exceeded the budget for bullet-proof vests, ammunition, art loans from the Smithsonian Institute, and the framing of  a flag in his office.  He also made frequent use of first class air flights, as well as frequent charter and specially scheduled military flights.
   Pruitt has had private, undisclosed meetings with heads of industries; and special concerns have been raised concerning those meetings with coal miners and an appearance in a video promoting the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.  He has been caught using four e-mail addresses, only two of which were known to Congress, and Senator John Barrasso (Republican, Wyoming) has sent sent Pruitt a letter warning  him that the use of those e-mail addresses makes the use of FOIA impossible and is breaking the law.
  Also under investigation are his multiple dismissals of well-known scientists from EPA Science Advisory Boards, whom he replaced with people from the industries and state regulators in the areas they are giving advisement.  Most people know about Pruitt's "renting" a condo in Washington, DC for $50 per night that belongs to a lobbyist whose clients were regulated by the EPA.  He was also involved in a housing scam during his time in the Oklahoma state senate, which (gasp!) incredibly also involved the two assistants for whom he got very large, un-authorized pay raises.  Misters Wagner and Kelly are friends from Oklahoma, and Pruitt used a narrow provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act to autonomously give raises of approximately $28,000 and $57,000 each, which allowed both of his friends to avoid signing conflicts of interest pledges.
    Talk about scheming lawyers!!!!

Under the Heel of "45" and Pruitt - The EPA

Yesterday, by a four vote margin, Scott Pruitt was confirmed as the new administrator of the United States Protection Agency.  He was sworn in yesterday afternoon.  During his election campaign, the tiny-handed tangerine tyrant, aka 45, vowed "to gut the EPA."  Congress has just given that power to 45's hand-picked butcher. Scott Pruitt, has always been highly critical of the Environmental Protection Agency, and now wields the power to to totally reshape the 15,000 employees work place and work standards.
   As the Attorney General of the state of Oklahoma, Pruitt sued the EPA at least 14 times - often in lockstep with the fossil fuel industry - to try to overturn the agency's clean air and clean water regulations.  He has questioned the role humans play in climate change, and argues that much of the agency's authority should in the the states' hands.  Now, Pruitt's actions - and the new executive orders that 45 plans to sign regarding the EPA - could have repercussions for decades, if not centuries. "Most of the business community is looking to Pruitt to make changes that will be enduring - not do things that can easily be undone by the next administration, but really sensible things," said Jeffrey Holmstead, who was an EPA official during George W. Bush's administration, and who is now employed by Bracewell LLP.
    I have personally heard of an executive order in the works that will allow mines almost no restrictions on the waste (toxic and otherwise), sludge, and sediment run-offs that will flow into streams,creeks and rivers.  No more wading in the creeks, or fishing, or anything fun - just rescuing poisoned creatures in the poisoned waters and along stream, creek and river banks...
     I have drawn heavily upon Politico.com as a resource for the following information.  The five items of vital interest to the American public regarding this administration and the United States Environmental Protection Agency are:
1.  Climate Change -   "45" and Pruitt have vowed to dramatically shift course on the Obama Administration's landmark climate change efforts.  The president has threatened to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate deal, in which the US and nearly 200 other nations agreed to make sharp cuts in their greenhouse gas output. The EPA's Clean Power Plan, which requires cuts in the power industry's carbon dioxide emissions,has a target on its back.
2.  Water Protections -  After years of legal confusion about which streams and wetlands deserve protection under the Clean Water Act, the Obama administration issued a landmark regulation in 2015 to cover head-water streams and some wetlands and ponds. Called the Waters of the US rule, or WOTUS, the regulation sparked a fierce backlash from home builders, farmers, and the oil and gas industries, which say it gives the federal government vast power over everything from stock ponds to puddles.  This President has vowed to kill WOTUS as soon as possible.
3.  Executive Orders - Cheeto-cheeks is widely expected to sign one or more executive orders shortly after Pruitt takes the helm at the agency, setting the priorities and tone for his EPA.  Top targets for the orders could include the agency's climate change work, its broad enforcement powers, or its overall approach to regulation.  Of course, executive orders are tied to the president who signs them, and the next administration can quickly undo them.  But EOs can also be used to set in motion a broader set of changes that aren't as easily erased. For instance, industry groups have long urged the EPA to change the way it measures the costs of new regulations, something that could significantly alter the regulatory review process for years.
4.  Personnel - One early "45" adviser, EPA critic Myron Ebell, had a clear recommendation for reining in the EPA: "Slash the workforce."  His call to cut the EPA's staff by two-thirds got a lot of media attention, but would be virtually impossible to accomplish.  Still, attrition can pack a punch, especially when the number of employees nearing retirement age and the promise of an unfriendly leader has sent morale plunging.
5.  Legislation - Truly lasting changes in the country's approach to environmental regulation will require action by Congress.  And after eight years of having their efforts met with veto threats from the White House, Republicans on Capitol Hill now see an opening.  But any such legislation will face a 60 vote threshold in the Senate, so a wholesale revamp that many in the GOP want to see is likely to remain out of reach.  Key Republican leaders have said that they plan to take a rifle-shot approach to the Clean Air Act, and they may try again to influence the reach of the Clean Water Act. However, it's not clear whether they will be able to raise the 60 votes needed...