Scott Pruitt Is Seen Cutting the E.P.A. With a Scalpel, Not a Cleaver

[DonViejo]

By CORAL DAVENPORTFEB. 5, 2017

WASHINGTON — Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency, is drawing up plans to move forward on the president’s campaign promise to “get rid of” the agency he hopes to head. He has a blueprint to repeal climate change rules, cut staffing levels, close regional offices and permanently weaken the agency’s regulatory authority.

But Mr. Pruitt, a lawyer who made a career suing the E.P.A., is not likely to start with the kind of shock and awe that Mr. Trump has used to disorient Washington. Instead, he will use the legal tools at his disposal to pare back the agency’s reach and power, and trim its budget selectively.

“Here’s my impression about Pruitt: I don’t think he’s going in there to blow up the agency,” said Jeffrey Holmstead, a senior E.P.A. official during the George W. Bush administration who has been mentioned as a possible deputy to Mr. Pruitt, and who has joined forces with him on lawsuits against the agency. “I think he’ll be very careful to make sure they’ve done everything legally to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s.”

With a zeal that has shocked or thrilled much of the country, Mr. Trump has been making good on campaign promises that once seemed outlandish, and those pledges included a vow to dismantle the agency charged with protecting the nation’s air, water and public health “in almost every form.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/us/politics/scott-pruitt-is-seen-cutting-the-epa-with-a-scalpel-not-a-cleaver.html?emc=edit_th_20170206&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=57435284

[enough]

1. You can kill with a scalpel.

Quote from the article:

His changes may not have the dramatic flair favored by Mr. Trump, but they could weaken the agency’s authority even long after Mr. Trump has left office.

“The point here will be, more than in any prior administration, to reduce the agency’s effectiveness so much that it can’t recover even when the political winds change,” said David Doniger, an E.P.A. lawyer in the Clinton administration who now works for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group.

[bdamomma]

2. it is the

dismantling of our most cherished agencies.

I hate this man/child/dic...tator

[procon]

3. What a steaming load of crapola!

Here's the money quote:

"I don’t think he’s going in there to blow up the agency,” said Jeffrey Holmstead, a senior E.P.A. official during the George W. Bush administration who has been mentioned as a possible deputy to Mr. Pruitt, and who has joined forces with him on lawsuits against the agency."

Don't believe anything this conniving brown noser says. He wants a place at the trough and he's providing cover for Trump's real agenda to gut the EPA and open the doors to corporate polluters. There's no daylight between any republican and their greed.