Those of us
who were EPA employers in the 1980’s remember Ann Gorsuch. She was appointed
the Administrator of the Agency by President Ronald Reagan with the sole
purpose of dismantling EPA. Ann Gorsuch slashed EPA’s budget by 22 percent and aggressively rolled
back clean air and clean water rules and other protections. In the first year
of the Reagan administration, there was a 79 percent decline in the number of
enforcement cases filed from regional offices to EPA headquarters, and a 69
percent decline in the number of cases filed from the EPA to the Department of
Justice. She cut the
total number of agency employees, and hired staff from the industries they were
supposed to be regulating.
In 1982, Congress charged that the EPA had mishandled the
$1.6 billion toxic waste Superfund and demanded records from Gorsuch. She refused
and became the first agency director in U.S. history to be cited for contempt of Congress. In those days Congress
had a backbone and had the courage to face down the President who claimed she
need not turn over the documents citing Executive Privilege. In the end she had
to resign her position after 22 months as Administrator.
Today Scott Pruitt was confirmed by the Senate to become EPA’s
Administrator. He has the same mandate from President Trump as Anne Gorsuch had
from President Reagan. This Congress has no backbone so I fear the worst for
our Environment.
