Contact: Trey Pollard trey.pollard@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Last night, Politico reported on a draft document from Scott Pruitt’s EPA that would not only foreclose any possibility of a meaningful Clean Power Plan replacement, but would open the door to attacks on the proven scientific and legal principles supporting EPA’s duty to protect the health of the public from dangerous greenhouse gas pollution.
In response, Sierra Club’s Chief Climate Counsel Joanne Spalding released the following statement:
"Trump’s EPA can’t simply ignore the Clean Air Act by rejecting the agency’s legal obligation to issue real and substantive limits on carbon pollution from power plants. Congress, the Supreme Court, and the agency’s own experts already settled this issue long ago: EPA may not shirk its legal duty to protect the public from dangerous emissions that harm our health. If Scott Pruitt tries to re-litigate this issue, he will lose and lose badly.”
“Contrary to the impression set by his abusive taxpayer-funded luxury travel habits and his reckless efforts to gut, delay or obstruct nearly every public health safeguard on the books, Scott Pruitt is not above the law. He will continue to learn this the hard way in the courts if he attempts to put the profits of corporate polluters above all else, including the rule of law.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.