Trump signs order at the EPA to dismantle environmental protections

President Trump holds up a pen after signing an executive order at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington on Tuesday. (Ron Sachs/Bloomberg News)

By Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin

March 28, 2017

The email arrived at lunchtime Tuesday from a top aide to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. “Our Big Day Today” read the subject line of the message, which went to thousands of EPA employees.

It detailed how President Trump would be visiting the agency, whose budget he recently proposed cutting by nearly a third, to sign a sweeping executive order aimed at unraveling efforts by President Barack Obama’s administration to combat climate change.

“This is an important moment for EPA,” chief of staff Ryan Jackson wrote. “As the Administrator has mentioned many times, we do not have to choose between environmental protection and economic development.”

Jackson cautioned that there was “limited space” to see Trump sign his order in the EPA’s wood-paneled Map Room. But there was also limited interest from many of the agency’s career employees.

At the EPA, scientists are encountering renewed skepticism of their work, many employees have seen their offices slated for elimination altogether, and regulators are facing the prospect of dismantling environmental rules many of them spent years creating. Trump’s visit to headquarters Tuesday was met with frustration, resignation and varying levels of angst.

Trump signs executive order rolling back Obama-era climate protections

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Poster Comment:

For many years the EPA has caused a stranglehold on the U.S. economy with their excessive regulations.