SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"Pruitt has made it easier for power plants to avoid upgrading to cleaner equipment."(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
We're Ignoring the Biggest Pruitt Scandal: He's Making Pollution Worse
Since Pruitt’s LinkedIn profile calls him the “leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda,” I guess he’s just doing his job.
May 16, 2018
It's hard to look away from the scandals engulfing EPA chief Scott Pruitt. The guy dined with a cardinal accused of sexual abuse and demoted employees who disagreed with him, just to scratch the surface. The bigger issue, though, is that he keeps protecting polluters instead of the environment.
Pruitt has made it easier for power plants to avoid upgrading to cleaner equipment, a new analysis from Rachel Leven and Fatima Bhojani at the Center for Public Integrity shows. That leaves Americans breathing dirtier air.
And even bigger changes are ahead for the New Source Review, the EPA program requiring companies to use up-to-date pollution controls. Here's what we know:
- CPI reports that 145 coal plants lacking pollution controls put out 580,000 total tons of sulfur dioxide last year, a pollutant that contributes to asthma and other breathing problems. While an EPA loophole lets coal plants built before 1978 get away with that, 38 of the 145 plants were built after '78.
- The Obama-era EPA cracked down on coal plants, forcing them to retrofit their factories and cut down on pollution. In Pruitt's first year, those demands dropped to just 12 percent of what was done under Obama.
- Ol' Scotty is planning another gift for big polluters: an overhaul of the New Source Review. He's already made a couple of tweaks, like asking regulators not to double-check companies' pollution estimates. An EPA document last year argued for reforming the program, calling it a potential "burden."
You know what's also a burden? Air pollution, which isn't really improving in the U.S. these days. But since Pruitt's LinkedIn profile calls him the "leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda," I guess he's just doing his job.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 Grist.org
It's hard to look away from the scandals engulfing EPA chief Scott Pruitt. The guy dined with a cardinal accused of sexual abuse and demoted employees who disagreed with him, just to scratch the surface. The bigger issue, though, is that he keeps protecting polluters instead of the environment.
Pruitt has made it easier for power plants to avoid upgrading to cleaner equipment, a new analysis from Rachel Leven and Fatima Bhojani at the Center for Public Integrity shows. That leaves Americans breathing dirtier air.
And even bigger changes are ahead for the New Source Review, the EPA program requiring companies to use up-to-date pollution controls. Here's what we know:
- CPI reports that 145 coal plants lacking pollution controls put out 580,000 total tons of sulfur dioxide last year, a pollutant that contributes to asthma and other breathing problems. While an EPA loophole lets coal plants built before 1978 get away with that, 38 of the 145 plants were built after '78.
- The Obama-era EPA cracked down on coal plants, forcing them to retrofit their factories and cut down on pollution. In Pruitt's first year, those demands dropped to just 12 percent of what was done under Obama.
- Ol' Scotty is planning another gift for big polluters: an overhaul of the New Source Review. He's already made a couple of tweaks, like asking regulators not to double-check companies' pollution estimates. An EPA document last year argued for reforming the program, calling it a potential "burden."
You know what's also a burden? Air pollution, which isn't really improving in the U.S. these days. But since Pruitt's LinkedIn profile calls him the "leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda," I guess he's just doing his job.
It's hard to look away from the scandals engulfing EPA chief Scott Pruitt. The guy dined with a cardinal accused of sexual abuse and demoted employees who disagreed with him, just to scratch the surface. The bigger issue, though, is that he keeps protecting polluters instead of the environment.
Pruitt has made it easier for power plants to avoid upgrading to cleaner equipment, a new analysis from Rachel Leven and Fatima Bhojani at the Center for Public Integrity shows. That leaves Americans breathing dirtier air.
And even bigger changes are ahead for the New Source Review, the EPA program requiring companies to use up-to-date pollution controls. Here's what we know:
- CPI reports that 145 coal plants lacking pollution controls put out 580,000 total tons of sulfur dioxide last year, a pollutant that contributes to asthma and other breathing problems. While an EPA loophole lets coal plants built before 1978 get away with that, 38 of the 145 plants were built after '78.
- The Obama-era EPA cracked down on coal plants, forcing them to retrofit their factories and cut down on pollution. In Pruitt's first year, those demands dropped to just 12 percent of what was done under Obama.
- Ol' Scotty is planning another gift for big polluters: an overhaul of the New Source Review. He's already made a couple of tweaks, like asking regulators not to double-check companies' pollution estimates. An EPA document last year argued for reforming the program, calling it a potential "burden."
You know what's also a burden? Air pollution, which isn't really improving in the U.S. these days. But since Pruitt's LinkedIn profile calls him the "leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda," I guess he's just doing his job.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.