Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency, before a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, on January 18, 2017. Pruitt has a blueprint to repeal climate change rules, cut staffing levels, close regional offices and permanently weaken the agency’s regulatory authority. (Photo: Gabriella Demczuk / The New York Times)
On February 3, Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced a bill titled “To Terminate the Environmental Protection Agency” (EPA).
This is a sign of how a majority-Republican House of Representatives now emboldened by a fiercely anti-environmental Donald Trump presidency is acting rapidly to dismantle as much environmental regulation as possible. The bill is co-sponsored by three other Republican representatives: Rep. Massie Thomas of Kentucky, Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi and Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia.
Make the EPA Great Again
Ironically, the bill to abolish the EPA is part of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee’s plan to “Make the EPA Great Again.”
A hearing on the bill will be held Tuesday, February 7, and the witnesses include Kimberly White, a senior director of chemical products and technology with the American Chemistry Council, as well as Jeffrey Holmstead.
Holmstead is a lobbyist representing energy companies, and in 2001, was appointed as the assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, where he played a key role in the George W. Bush administration’s efforts to dramatically scale back clean air and climate change protections.
He is infamous for saying, “The benefits of reducing mercury are very insignificant.”
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee is well known for being vehemently anti-science, and is led by Republican Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who led the charge to intimidate environmental groups who had called for Exxon to be investigated for its climate fraud. The committee recently tweeted an article from Breitbart that insinuated doubt about the…