"What EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Promised — And What He’s Done"

"For Scott Pruitt, 'back to basics' has translated to 'back off.'"

"The Environmental Protection Agency administrator came into office promising to discard his predecessor’s 'overreaching' focus on climate change and concentrate on what he called the agency’s real mission: cleaning up the air, water and land.

But instead, Pruitt has rolled back or stalled environmental protections, given the fossil fuel and chemistry industries more sway over public health decisions and taken steps that critics fear will undermine work on pollution cleanups, according to a POLITICO analysis of what he’s accomplished to date. He says he will be tough on environmental crimes, but his agency is also easing up on enforcement and collecting far less in penalties than previous administrations, according to agency watchdogs.

Pruitt is the most unorthodox EPA administrator in decades, an avowed critic of the agency who has alienated much of his career staff. He’s spent heavily on travel to meet with business executives and GOP leaders, who want to see a much weaker EPA and could back Pruitt in a future political campaign. He has declined to disclose his daily schedule, employs a large entourage of bodyguards and built a “privacy booth” for communications in his office. He has questioned manmade climate change and kicked respected scientists off his advisory boards, replacing them with representatives from the businesses and the states he regulates."

Alex GuillÉn and Emily Holden report for Politico November 19, 2017.