Scott Pruitt woke up Friday morning as Oklahoma鈥檚 attorney general, a post he had used for six years to repeatedly sue the Environmental Protection Agency for its efforts to regulate mercury, smog and other forms of pollution. By day鈥檚 end, he had been sworn in as the agency鈥檚 new leader, setting off a struggle over what the EPA will become in the Trump era.
Pruitt begins what is likely to be a controversial tenure with a clear set of goals. He has been outspoken in his view, widely shared by Republicans, that the EPA zealously overstepped its legal authority under President Barack Obama, saddling the fossil-fuel industry with unnecessary and onerous regulations.
But rolling back the environmental actions of the previous administration won鈥檛 happen quickly or easily. Even if President Trump issues executive orders aimed at undoing Obama initiatives to combat climate change, oversee waterways and wetlands and slash pollution from power plants 鈥� as he is expected to do as early as next week 鈥� existing regulations won鈥檛 disappear overnight.
To reverse or revamp existing rules around vehicle fuel standards, mercury pollution or a range of other environmental issues, Pruitt would have to repeat the lengthy bureaucratic process that generated them. Other initiatives, such as the so-called Clean Power Plan aimed at regulating emissions from power plants, remain tied up federal courts.
In addition, Pruitt will encounter an EPA workforce on edge, in which some employees are wary about the direction he plans to take the agency and fearful he might adhere more to ideology than science. Environmental groups also are likely to oppose him at every turn, eager to sue over any rollback of existing regulations.
For his part, Pruitt has said he intends to return the agency to its central mission of protecting the quality of the nation鈥檚 air and water while respecting the role of states as primary enforcers of environmental laws.
鈥淚t is our state regulators who oftentimes best understand the local needs and the uniqueness of our environmental challenges,鈥� he said during his confirmation hearing last month.
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