The EPA is concerned with regulating air and water quality, and the immediate impact of burning fossil fuels. Air pollution from fossil fuels has a profound imp

The EPA is concerned with regulating air and water quality, and the immediate impact of burning fossil fuels. Air pollution from fossil fuels has a profound impact on American lives. Whether or not they do research is irrelevant. Neutering their ability to enforce standards clearly shows the administration doesn't acknowledge the realities that affect the country and the world. By diminishing the power of the EPA, alongside Trump's executive order that attempts to reduce/reverse the broad set of climate and clean energy initiatives from the Obama Administration (Clean Power Plan), the U.S. may continue to lose the leadership in the clean energy economy and adherence to climate change goals. Furthermore, given Pruit's anti-EPA philosophy, we could easily see him push the body to revise the Clean Power Plan in a way that would benefit the fossil fuel industry at the expense of the environment and the long term health of Americans.