"Pruitt's EPA Is on the Verge of 'Regulatory Capture', Study Says"

"When EPA decisions are based on industry priorities instead of public interest, it's regulatory capture. Researchers say industry has more sway now than with Reagan."

"Under the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency has veered so far from its foundational mission of protecting human health and the environment that it faces the highest risk in its 47-year history of being reshaped to serve industry rather than the American public, according to a new study in the American Journal of Public Health.

The EPA routinely faces criticism from environmental and public health advocates for allegedly quashing science and softening rules to help industry. During the early years of the Reagan presidency in particular, EPA Administrator Anne Gorsuch worked to scale back the agency's activities.

But the new study, based on interviews with current and former EPA staff and reviews of White House and EPA initiatives, concluded that the agency is now on the edge of "regulatory capture," when industry priorities determine policy rather than the public interest and impartial research."

Neela Banerjee reports for InsideClimate News May 1, 2018.