Washington Watch: Trump Trashes Mountain Streams; Pruitt Confirmed at EPA

It’s been another bad week for the environment in Washington.

Trump Trashes Mountain Streams: Congress passed and the president signed last week a resolution disapproving the Obama Administration’s rule protecting Appalachian streams from destruction by the debris from strip mining. It’s a menace to downstream water quality and the communities which rely on that, too, but this made no difference to the anti-environmental team.

In response to Trump’s signature of the Congressional Review Act “Resolution of Disapproval” of the Stream Protection Rule, League of Conservation Voters (LCV) President Gene Karpinski said, “When Trump put his signature on this extreme law, he handed Big Polluters a free pass to dump their dangerous pollution into our drinking water. Although he claimed to support ‘crystal clear water’ his actions as president have deprived communities of their fundamental right to clean water.”

Pruitt Confirmed at EPA: Environmental advocates around the nation organized a lobbying campaign against his confirmation, more than 700 former EPA officials signed a letter opposing his nomination, and environmental champions in the U.S. Senate carried on an all-night and morning debate against him. It was a noble try, but it fell short, and the most anti-environmental head of the Environmental Protection Agency in at least a generation is now in office.

“With historic opposition to his confirmation, Scott Pruitt should understand the scrutiny he will be under as Administrator of the EPA,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “We will fiercely oppose Scott Pruitt at every step of the way when he attempts to gut commonsense safeguards for our air, water, land and the health of our families.”

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