EPA Admin. Pruitt Pushing Fiction to Allow Dirtier Air and Water and Sicker Americans

WASHINGTON – Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt today issued a directive that would make EPA’s actions less accountable to the public and give corporate polluters more freedom to pollute the nation’s air, water and land.

The following is a statement from John Walke, Director, Clean Air Project, Climate & Clean Air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council:

“Pruitt’s doing nothing more than posturing about a non-existent problem and political fiction. His targeting of legal settlements, especially where EPA has no defense to breaking the law, will just allow violations to persist, along with harms to Americans.

“The irony is that polluters don’t even have to sue Pruitt to get what they want. They just pick up the phone and ask. Make no mistake, the unspoken Trump EPA agenda is to allow more corporations to ignore the law and prolong EPA breaking the law; both will lead to dirtier air, dirtier water, and sicker people.”

For more please see Walke’s congressional testimony on the issue: http://judiciary.house.gov/_files/hearings/113th/06052013/Walke%2006052013.pdf

###

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.​