Energy Experts Praise Scott Pruitt’s Service at EPA

Energy experts Myron Ebell and Thomas Pyle praised former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s service after he announced his resignation on Thursday.

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he accepted Pruitt’s resignation and that EPA Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler will take over as the new head of the agency.

Trump said that Pruitt’s work at the agency has been “outstanding” and, “I will always be thankful to him for this.”

Trump EPA Transition Chair and Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) energy scholar Myron Ebell said in a statement on Thursday:

On behalf of CEI, we thank Scott Pruitt for his outstanding service as EPA administrator, and we regret that personal troubles got in the way. Over the past 18 months, the EPA has made tremendous progress in ensuring that Americans have access to affordable and reliable energy. We are particularly pleased with Pruitt’s leadership getting the United States out of the Paris Climate Treaty, rolling back climate rules like the so-called Clean Power Plan, replacing the Waters of the United States rule, and establishing new science transparency rules.

Ebell continued:

We have full confidence in Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler to carry President Trump’s important EPA reform agenda forward. The reforms undertaken will have positive consequences for American consumers, the economy, and the environment.

American Energy Alliance (AEA) President Thomas Pyle said that the EPA fulfilled many of President Donald Trump’s environmental policies while serving as the head of the environmental agency. Pyle said:

In the short time Administrator, Pruitt was at the EPA, he accomplished much to reorient the Agency towards environmental improvement and away from an obsessive focus on global warming. The work he started on transparency, on the Clean Power Plan, on Waters of the United States, on State authority, on the federal fuel mandate, on the ethanol mandate, and on a host of other issues will ensure that the Agency remains focused on improving the environment rather than inhibiting consumer choice or compromising prosperity.

Pyle continued:

We look forward to continuing to work with Acting Administrator Wheeler to fulfill the promise of this Administration, and we are confident that his knowledge, experience, and judgment will help the Trump Administration achieve its objectives with respect to environmental and energy issues.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) welcomed Wheeler’s leadership in a statement on Thursday and said she looks forward to working with him regarding the Renewal Fuel Standard (RFS).

“I have confidence that Andrew Wheeler will be a good partner at EPA, and I look forward to working with him on the RFS,” Ernst said.

Pruitt unraveled much of Barack Obama’s climate change agenda, rolling back Obama’s Clean Power Plan, rescinding the agency’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, and serving as the most forceful advocate to pull out of the Paris Climate Treaty. Pruitt announced in April that he would revise the agency’s Obama-era emissions and gas mileage standards for automobiles. Last October the EPA ended the agency’s “sue and settle” policy that would create “regulation through litigation.”

Given Pruitt’s accomplishments, Newsweek called Pruitt “the most dangerous member of Trump’s cabinet.”

William Ruckelshaus, the EPA’s first administrator, claimed that Pruitt has moved quickly to dismantle the environmental regulatory apparatus established by the agency.

Ruckelshaus argued, “We’ve spent 40 years putting together an apparatus to protect public health and the environment from a lot of different pollutants. He’s pulling that whole apparatus down.”