Let’s leave aside for the time being the matter of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the unwelcome effects they could have. Judged solely by what he has done with regard to old-fashioned pollution, putting Pruitt in charge of the EPA is the equivalent of letting Nick Saban call the plays for Auburn.
Under Pruitt, the agency’s funding would be cut by $2.5 billion, or 23 percent — a contrast from the roughly $300 billion in new spending in other areas that Congress and the president recently approved. Given that the president is content to allow the budget deficit to rise to $1 trillion, it’s hard to argue that the federal government can’t afford to adequately fund the EPA. Pruitt and Trump just don’t want to.
Their goal is to weaken and constrain the agency. Pruitt has reduced the number of personnel to the lowest level since 1988 — with stated plans to cut it by another 2,500 in the next two years. Just as fewer cops would lead to fewer arrests, the staffing reductions diminish the agency’s ability to prevent pollution and clean it up....
...Nothing else Pruitt is doing compares to the malignant effects of his permissiveness about pollution. Many Americans may not worry about climate change or preserving wild areas. But they should care about the consequences of dirtier air and water, as summarized by Christine Todd Whitman, head of the EPA under George W. Bush: “People will get sick and die.” You could be one of them....
