The New EPA

Rachel Allen
ECON 2250-500
Professor Jeppson
On February 17, 2017

Scott Pruitt became the 14th administrator of the EPA

through senate confirmation
Pruitt has been a controversial choice
to head the EPA

To understand why you must first

understand the mission of the EPA and
how it achieves its goals

http://flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/16502619990
 The EPA
https://www.epa.gov/

The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.

EPA's purpose is to ensure that:
all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment
where they live, learn and work;
national efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on the best available scientific
information;
federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and
effectively;
environmental protection is an integral consideration in U.S. policies concerning natural
resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and
international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental
policy;
all parts of society -- communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal
governments -- have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in
managing human health and environmental risks;
environmental protection contributes to making our communities and ecosystems diverse,
sustainable and economically productive; and
the United States plays a leadership role in working with other nations to protect the global
environment.
 The EPA Achieves its Goals through:
https://www.epa.gov/

Development and enforcement of Studying environmental issues

regulations
Congress writes environmental law and
the EPA enforces those laws
Giving grants
EPA grants are given to state and local
governments to aid in funding for
studies and clean ups
Teaching people about the environment
Sponsoring partnerships
The EPA partners with private business,
state and local government and non-
profit organizations to protect the
environment
The EPA has labs located throughout the
country that work to identify and solve
environmental issues and share their
findings with state and local
governments as well as other countries,
private business and academic
institutions
The EPA publishes findings through
written material and on its website
www.epa.gov

I believe that measuring, with
precision, human activity on the
climate is something very
challenging to do, and theres
tremendous disagreement about
the degree of impact. So, no, I
would not agree that its a
primary contributor to the global
warming that we see.
- Scott Pruitt, March 10, 2017
Scott Pruitt was not an obvious choice to head the
Environmental Protection Agency.
In March 2017 Mr. Pruitt stated he does not believe
that human activity is a primary contributor to
global warming.
Since the 1970s the scientific community has been
aware that CO2 in the atmosphere accumulated by
human activity has been contributing to higher
global temperatures. This belief has become widely
accepted as CO2 concentrations have coincided with
temperature increases around the world.
Pruitt brought
lawsuits against the
EPA 14 times while
attorney general of
Oklahoma.

Each of these lawsuits

was an attempt to
block EPA rules to
protect Americas air
and water.
1. Challenging the Cross State Air Pollution Rule

2. Challenging Rule Placing Limits on Mercury Pollution

3. Challenging Limits on Mercury a Second Time

4. Challenging EPA Effort to Reduce Ozone Pollution

5. Challenging EPA Rule Limiting Pollution During Power Plant Shutdowns or Malfunctions

6. Challenging Plan by EPA to Protect Scenic Vistas in Certain National Parks

7. Challenging Clean Air Standards for Oil and Gas Drilling and Production Sites

8. Challenging Determination that Greenhouse Gas Pollution Endangers Health and Environment

9. Challenging the Clean Power Plan--Intended to Curb Climate Change

10. Challenging the Clean Power Plan-A Second Time

11. Challenging the Clean Power Plan-A Third Time

12. Suing to Block the Clean Power Plan a Fourth Time

13. Challenging Carbon Pollution Standards for New Power plants

14. Challenging the Clean Water Rule

Pruitts ties to energy companies
have made many question his
ability to govern the agency
responsible for maintaining
public health through regulation
and enforcement of
environmental quality standards

Scott Pruitt has spearheaded the

efforts of the Trump
administration to put the
interests of business before the
interests of global ecological and
human health. Pruitt has rolled
back regulations and put others
under review

kris krg (Creative Commons)

Power Plants

The Clean Power Plan of 2015 was

enacted to put CO2 emission limits
on existing power plants. The aim
was for power plants to reduce
emissions by 32% below the 2005
levels by the year 2030
On October 10 Pruitt began a plan to
repeal the Clean Power Plan and
signed a bill that would begin the
rollback.

Peggydavis66/Flickr, Creative Commons license.

Vehicle Emissions
Transportation, including emissions
from passenger cars and trucks,
accounts for around 27% of
greenhouse gas emissions. Plans
were put in place in 2012 to increase
fuel economy in passenger vehicles
to 36.6 mpg by 2017 and again to 54.6
mpg by 2025. New emissions limits
were also put on the heavy trucking
industry.
In March 2017 Pruitt announced that
the EPA and the Department of
Transportation would work together
to review these standards
RUBEN DE RIJCKE / FLICKR VIA CREATIVE COMMONS.
Social Cost of Carbon
The Social Cost of Carbon, or an
estimate of the social savings that
comes with avoiding costs associated
with climate change was set at about
$36 costing industry for polluting
and leading to health and
environmental benefits for society.
In the proposal to repeal the Clean
Power Plan, Pruitt included lower
Social Costs of Carbon at between $1
and $6. This limits the incentive of
companies to stop emitting CO2.

Minh Ha Duong creative commons

 Oil and Gas Wells
Oil and gas wells are large sources of
methane, a greenhouse gas. The EPA
has set limits on methane gas emissions
from new and modified wells and has
ordered companies to take action to
reduce leaks that damage the
environment.
Pruitt, who previously sued the EPA to
block this regulation, issued a stay on
implementing it that would last for two
years. Pruitt lost a battle in appeals
court and was forced to enforce the
emissions limits, however, a
Roy Luck/flickr
requirement for wells to report
methane emissions was withdrawn.
Staying on our
current path of
CO2 emissions is
projected to rise
global
temperatures that
will result in
devastating
effects.
The EPA doesnt protect our global
environment but it is the agency we
count on to regulate business
interests against taking advantage of
our earth and the American people.
The recent changes to the EPA have
put us on a dangerous track.
References:
https://www.epa.gov/

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/trumps-epa-chief-rejects-that-carbon-dioxide-
emissions-cause-climate-change/519054/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/14/us/politics/document-Pruitt-v-EPA-a-
Compilation-of-Oklahoma-14.html

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-scott-pruitts-epa-is-erasing-obamas-climate-
change-legacy/

http://journals.openedition.org/sapiens/793

EIA. (n.d.). Forecast of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions through 2040 (in billion metric tons).
In Statista - The Statistics Portal. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://www-statista-
com.libprox1.slcc.edu/statistics/263980/forecast-of-global-carbon-dioxide-emissions/.