Trump’s EPA chief recuses himself from climate, water rule cases
By Timothy Cama
5 May 2017 (The Hill) – The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recusing himself from matters involving numerous major lawsuits he filed against his own agency. Scott Pruitt filed a recusal statement Thursday, saying that he will stay away from cases challenging the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, the Clean Water Rule, the 2015 ozone pollution rule, the methane emissions limits for oil and natural gas, the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal and more. The EPA under President Trump opposes and is working to repeal the Clean Power Plan, the water rule, and the methane rule, and is reviewing the ozone rule for potential repeal. “I understand that this commitment is longer than is required by the federal impartiality standards, but I am taking this action to avoid even the appearance of any impropriety under federal ethics or professional responsibility obligations,” Pruitt wrote in a letter first reported by E&E News. Pruitt had filed all of those lawsuits as Oklahoma’s attorney general, as part of a coalition with other conservative states. He also won’t be involved in any matters involving Oklahoma until February 2018, a year after he took over the EPA job, he wrote. Pruitt’s recusal doesn’t cover other matters concerning the regulations, and he can still participate in the ongoing work to repeal and potentially rewrite many of them. [more]
Trump's picks are the theater of the absurd. It's going to be four years of jokes, nightmares, disasters, rollbacks and cuts. He's already the worst President, ever.