New EPA chief, president announce plans to roll back Clean Power Plan

February 24th, 2017 by Dakota Software Staff Industry News

Scott Pruitt, the newly selected EPA chief administrator, has long been known as an opponent of the Clean Power Plan, filing and joining lawsuits against it while serving as attorney general of Oklahoma. With official confirmation from Congress, Pruitt is now in charge of the EPA and made it clear that rolling back the Plan is a priority. Considering his track record, that comes as no surprise. While the technical and legal details of how the CPP will be rolled back or otherwise removed are unclear, there's strong support for this strategy from the White House and among Congress.

Recent White House actions
The Trump administration has officially indicated it will move forward on plans to roll back the CPP and the Clean Water Rule through executive orders to relevant agencies, The Hill reported. For the CPP, that means working with Pruitt and the EPA to remove the restrictions on emissions from existing power plants that were initially put into place during 2015. Orders will go through the Army Corps of Engineers in relation to the CWR.

As The Hill pointed out, the initial moves to revert to pre-CPP regulations are in line with Trump's campaign promises. The CPP was already stalled due to lawsuits brought against it by a number of states and business associations. The Supreme Court ruled that those actions had to be settled before the CPP was implemented. That means removing the regulations will be easier for some states, as they haven't fully put them in place.

Pruitt's approach
Industry news site Natural Gas Intel said Pruitt is gearing up to follow through on those impending executive orders. During his first address to EPA employees, he said he highly valued creating a regulatory environment of certainty and confidence.

"Those [businesses] that we regulate ought to know what is expected of them so that they can plan and allocate resources to comply," Pruitt said, according to Natural Gas Intel. "That's really the job of a regulator. And the process that we engage in adopting regulations is very important, because it sends a message: that we take seriously our role of taking comment and offering response and then making informed decisions on how it's going to impact those in the marketplace - to achieve the ends that we have in statute."