News Releases from Headquarters›Office of the Administrator (AO)
EPA Celebrates 500 Days of American Greatness
Promise Made
On The Campaign Trail, Then-Candidate Donald Trump Pledged To Withdraw From The Paris Climate Agreement. Donald Trump “railed against ‘draconian climate rules’ and said he would ‘cancel’ the Paris climate agreement." (NBC News, 5/26/2017)Exit
Promise Kept
In June 2017, President Trump Announced His Decision To Withdraw From The Paris Climate Agreement, Pledging To Put American Jobs First. “President Donald Trump kept a campaign promise by announcing Thursday that he is immediately withdrawing the U.S. from a global climate pact. Trump had said as a candidate that the Paris climate accord, signed by nearly 200 countries in 2015, would cause job losses in the U.S.” (PBS, 6/1/2018).Exit
Promise Made
President-Elect Trump Stressed “Clean Air And ‘Crystal Clear Water’ Were Vitally Important.” (The New York Times, 11/22/2016)Exit
Promise Kept
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Down Despite Critics’ Claims That Top-Down Government Regulations Are Needed. “The EPA administrator yesterday touted the results of the agency's annual report that tallies U.S. emissions. The inventory, released last week, shows that domestic greenhouse gas emissions were down 2.5 percent in 2016 compared with 2015. Between 2005 and 2016, emissions fell about 11 percent.” (E&E News, 4/19/2018)Exit
Democratic Senator Jon Tester Applauded Administrator Pruitt’s Commitment To Superfund Communities In Montana. “You committed to working with Superfund communities in Montana to increase transparency and solicit additional public input. I applaud that. I am glad to hear that EPA and BP-ARCO are finally moving forward the framework agreement to cleaning up Butte and move forward soon with Anaconda.” (Senator Jon Tester, 5/16/2018)Exit
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Approved Cleanup Plan To Remove Toxic Material From West Lake Superfund Site. “Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Monday that he believes he has proposed a 'sound, solid' solution to clean up the West Lake Landfill Superfund site — but that a final decision could include excavating more than the 67 percent of the site the EPA says will be sufficient to protect the health of neighboring residents.” ( http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/epa-head-says-final-west-lake-cleanup-plan-could-mean/article_2de47bd9-7b39-5408-ae1b-ecba527d5651.html) St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/13/2018 Exit
The Trump Administration’s EPA Has Made It A Priority To Clean Up Toxic Superfund Sites To Improve Environmental Quality For Surrounding Communities. “Federal environmental regulators have reached a long-awaited agreement with the owners of a polluted toxic waste site in Texas that was damaged during Hurricane Harvey, releasing dangerous chemicals into a river. The Environmental Protection Agency says it reached a final deal with International Paper Co. and McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corp. to design a plan to remove dioxin-contaminated materials from the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund site, located outside Houston.” (The Associated Press, 4/11/2018)Exit
Promise Made
President-Elect Trump Promised To Reduce Burdensome, Job-Killing Regulations Prior To Taking Office. “I will formulate a rule which says for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated.” (President-Elect Donald Trump, 11/21/2016)Exit
Promise Kept
During The First Year Of The Trump Administration, EPA Finalized 22 Deregulatory Actions, Which Could Save Americans More Than $1 Billion In Regulatory Costs. (EPA Releases Administrator Pruitt’s Year One Accomplishments Report, 3/5/2018)
For Fiscal Year 2017, EPA Finalized Two Deregulatory Actions For Each Final Regulatory Action. (EPA Releases Annual Regulatory Plan, 12/14/2017)
In October 2017, EPA Relaunched The Smart Sectors Program To Collaborate With Regulated Sectors And Develop Sensible Approaches That Better Protect The Environment And Human Health. “’EPA's Smart Sectors program will re-examine how EPA engages with industry in order to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, create certainty and predictability, and improve the ability of both EPA and industry to conduct long-term regulatory planning while also protecting the environment and public health,’ according to the EPA.” (The Washington Examiner, 9/27/2017)Exit
Promise Made
Then-Candidate Donald Trump Promised To Repeal The Job-Killing Clean Power Plan On The Campaign Trail. “During an economic policy speech in New York, Trump said he would eliminate the Clean Power Plan and the Waters of the United States rule. In a fact sheet released accompanying the speech.” (The Washington Examiner, 9/15/2016)Exit
Promise Kept
In October 2017, EPA Announced The Agency Has Submitted A Proposal To Repeal The So-Called “Clean Power Plan.” “The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday that Scott Pruitt, the chief of the agency, had signed a measure to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature policy to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.” (The New York Times, 10/9/2017)Exit
Promise Made
Then-Candidate Donald Trump Promised To Repeal The “Waters Of The United States” Rule On The Campaign Trail. “During an economic policy speech in New York, Trump said he would eliminate the Clean Power Plan and the Waters of the United States rule. In a fact sheet released accompanying the speech.” (The Washington Examiner, 9/15/2016)Exit
Promise Kept
In June 2017, President Trump’s EPA Proposed To Repeal The Obama Administration’s Overreaching “Waters Of The United States” Rule That Will Provide Regulatory Certainty For Farmers And Land Owners. “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally proposed Tuesday to repeal the Obama administration’s controversial regulation that extended the reach of the federal government over small waterways.” (The Hill, 6/27/2018 (http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/339691-epa-seeks-to-repeal-obama-water-rule)) Exit
Promise Made
Then-Candidate Donald Trump Pledged “Energy Revolution.” “A Trump administration would end this war on the American worker and unleash an energy revolution that will bring vast new wealth to our country.” ( [http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/290754-trump-pledges-to-unleash-an-energy-revolution] The Hill, 8/8/2016)Exit
Promise Kept
In October 2017, EPA Released Energy Independence Report To Highlight Success And Lay Out Plans For The Future. “Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final report on how EPA, under Administrator Scott Pruitt’s leadership, is implementing President Trump’s Executive Order 13783 to curb regulatory burdens in order to promote energy production and economic growth – while protecting human health and the environment.” (EPA Releases Energy Independence Report, 10/25/2017)
Promise Made
Then-Candidate Donald Trump Promised That “Policy Decisions Will Be Public And Very, Very Transparent.” (Speech in Bismarck, ND, 5/26/2016)Exit
Promise Kept
In April 2018, EPA Issued A Proposed Rule To Provide Transparency In EPA Regulations. “Taking steps to increase access to data, with strong privacy protections, is how society will continue to make scientific and economic progress and ensure that evidence in rule-making is sound. The EPA’s proposed rule follows principles laid out in 2017 by the bipartisan Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking — humility, transparency, privacy, capacity and rigor — and moves us toward providing greater access to scientific data while protecting individual privacy.” (The Washington Post, 5/10/2018)Exit
Promise Made
Then-Candidate Donald Trump Promised That “In A Trump Administration, Political Activists With Extreme Agendas Will No Longer Write The Rules Because That Is What Is Happening Now.” (Speech in Bismarck, ND, 5/26/2016) Exit
Promise Kept
In October 2017, EPA Put An End To The Use Of “Sue & Settle.” “… Pruitt declared ‘the days of regulation through litigation are over.’ He is directing the agency to take a series of steps intended to increase transparency, improve public participation, and provide direct accountability for the actions that EPA officials take. That includes forbidding the practice of entering into any settlements that ‘exceed the authority of the courts’ and requiring that any proposed settlement be published for a 30-day public comment period.” (National Review, 10/21/2017)Exit
Promise Made
Then-Candidate Donald Trump Promised, "We Are Going To Bring Back The Automobile Industry To Michigan, Bigger And Better And Stronger Than Ever Before." (Rally in Grand Rapids (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1611/08/cnnt.01.html), MI, 11/8/2016) Exit
Promise Kept
In April 2018, Administrator Pruitt Determined That Obama-Era Standards For Light-Duty Vehicles Were Not Appropriate and Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens On the Auto Industry. “Obama administration regulations on fuel efficiency for automobiles were both unrealistic and coercive, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Tuesday. ‘Oftentimes this agency has been used to try to be coercive, and to try to pick winners and losers and advance certain outcomes in the marketplace,’ Pruitt told The Daily Signal in an interview.” (Daily Signal, 4/3/2018) Exit
