Climate change denier Myron Ebell recently hinted serious changes could be made to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Donald Trump administration. In a telling new interview, he said the agency could reopen a review of car fuel efficiency standards, and withdraw or change climate education information. Ebell called Trump’s campaign goal to scrap the agency an “aspirational goal”.
The EPA won’t be gone tomorrow, but Ebell indicated its functions could be radically curtailed as Trump hopes to farm out many EPA roles to states instead. The agency has existed since 1970, to safeguard public health and the environment. But Trump reportedly thinks many of these duties would be better left to states.
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Speaking to The Guardian, Ebell said, “To abolish an agency requires not only thought but time because you have to decide what to do with certain functions that Congress has assigned to that agency. President Trump said during the campaign that he would like to abolish the EPA or ‘leave a little bit.’ It is a goal he has and sometimes it takes a long time to achieve goals.”
The Guardian noted Ebell does not speak for Trump. However, many of his statements echo those of new White House staff, including the president. As the leader of the Trump EPA transition team, Ebell worked on a method to withdraw from the Paris agreement and ditch President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. It’s up to whomever will lead the EPA now to follow through on those ideas, but as Trump’s pick is sue-happy Scott Pruitt, it’s not far-fetched to imagine he might follow up on Ebell’s environmentally damaging dreams should he be confirmed.
In the past, Ebell said two-thirds of the EPA’s 15,000 scientists, engineers, and researchers could be cut. Such a move would be ironic for Trump, who’s staked many of his actions on the impression they create jobs.
Ebell described himself on his Twitter page as the “number one enemy of climate change alarmism,” and directs the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which Greenpeace once slammed for a video of theirs that claimed carbon dioxide isn’t a pollutant.
Via The Guardian
Images via screenshot and Competitive Enterprise Institute Facebook
