The Patriot Post® · Team Trump Subdues EPA's Iron Fist

Barack Obama’s EPA, which went particularly haywire under the direction of Gina McCarthy, routinely pushed the legal boundaries with a barrage of dubious rules and regulations. One such overreach involved the Clean Water Act, which the agency exhorted in 2015 to subjugate more American waterways to federal supervision. A skeptical judicial branch temporarily quashed the power grab shortly thereafter. But thanks to a new administration and constitutional-minded EPA administrator, the legal kerfuffle may be ending entirely.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “President Trump on Tuesday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider an Obama Administration rule that seized control over tens of millions of acres of private land under the pretext of protecting the nation’s waterways. EPA chief Scott Pruitt will now follow due process to rescind one of his predecessor’s lawless rule-makings.” This has big implications. For example, the Journal continues, “Green groups could use the rule to block pipelines, housing projects or any development they don’t like. Farmers might be prohibited from using fertilizers that could flow downstream.” But with Pruitt now at the helm, these concerns are vastly diminished.

Republicans are primed for even more regulatory rollbacks thanks to the Congressional Review Act. In a corresponding editorial, the Journal quotes Pacific Legal Foundation’s Todd Gaziano, who explains how “the entire point of the CRA was to restore some minimal level of constitutional accountability over agencies that take a broadly worded statute as license to run wild.” Could anything more appropriately apply to Obama’s EPA? Thankfully, the CRA has become an unexpected, albeit effective, tool for cutting red tape. And it promises to target onerous regulations similar to the water rule Trump is red-flagging. When it rains, it pours. Our neglected Constitution is getting a much-needed refill of checks and balances.