Open Letter From Conservative Leaders: Conservatives Stand with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt

Conservatives Stand with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt

April 6, 2018
Washington, DC

Conservatives stand behind Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and thank him for the significant actions he has taken to implement President Trump’s deregulatory agenda.

President Trump campaigned on reducing Washington’s bureaucracy, and Administrator Pruitt has been instrumental to that effort. His leadership has helped President Trump keep his promises in a number of critical areas which conservatives support, including the following.

• Rolling back President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, a set of regulations that was estimated to cost 400,000 American jobs and reduce our nation’s gross domestic product by $2.5 trillion dollars.

• Addressing EPA’s overly-broad Waters of the United States rule, which threatened private property rights by considering even ditches that occasionally fill with rain as areas subject to federal jurisdiction.

• Revising the Obama-era fuel economy standards which were estimated to increase new car prices by $3,800 per vehicle, while providing negligible climate benefits.

• Taking important steps to making EPA more transparent by no longer allowing the use of “secret science” in developing federal regulations, instead requiring that the agency make the data and methodology of studies used in rule-making available to the public.

• Acting as the cabinet’s lead advocate for withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, an illegal treaty estimated to cost American families thousands of dollars in lost income while only reducing global temperatures by less than two-tenths of a degree.

• Ending the EPA’s sue-and-settle agreements, which radical environmentalists have manipulated for years to use taxpayer money to dictate energy and environmental policy.

• Re-focusing EPA on its core functions, like cleaning up the nation’s most toxic Superfund sites. In his first year as Secretary, the EPA cleaned up and removed seven sites on the National Priorities List.

• Helpfully reengaging with state regulators, working to efficiently review state water quality standards in a timely manner, dropping wait times from 120 days to 60 days.

Overall, Administrator Pruitt has finalized 22 deregulatory actions, saving American families and businesses more than $1 billion in costs. He is critical to President Trump’s efforts to streamline agency efforts in a way that assists American families and the economy. We applaud President Trump for his appointment of Scott Pruitt and support his continued tenure at the EPA.

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