Trump Could Appoint Someone Totally Unexpected To Head EPA

Trump Could Appoint Someone Totally Unexpected To Head EPA

MICHAEL BASTASCH
9:35 PM 12/04/2016

Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team are interviewing candidates to head up the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While media reports indicate the president-elect has narrowed the field down to two candidates, a new name is on the lips of some on Trump’s transition team: Dr. Donald van der Vaart.

Van der Vaart is a PhD chemical engineer who currently heads the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. If appointed and approved by Congress, Van der Vaart would be the first PhD scientist to head EPA. He also holds a law degree.

Sources close to Trump’s transition team said van der Vaart would put a halt to overreaching regulations and the so-called “secret science” EPA relies on to push ever-stricter rules on businesses.

“He can see right through this stuff,” a source told The Daily Caller News Foundation, arguing van der Vaart would be critical of any shoddy science coming out of the agency.

“He understands that time consumption and reams of paperwork, to comply with regulations that accomplish nothing to improve our environment, are economy killers,” North Carolina state Rep. Chris Millis, a van der Vaart supporter, told TheDCNF.Van der Vaart joined a coalition of states opposing the CPP, which he says violates federal law, and was the signatory on a letter asking President-Elect Trump to rein in the EPA and keep activists from driving the agency’s agenda.

“Our country still needs the EPA, but not the EPA of recent years,” reads the letter signed by top environmental regulators from five state. “We need research targeted at our specific, clear environmental challenges.”

“This can best be done by coordinating industry-level initiatives that cross state lines, which can be defined by measurable success,” reads the letter. “We must put an end to the idea that more regulation is always good, and instead allow state and local experts to improve the environment.”

Van der Vaart also sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy asking her to stop issuing “midnight” regulations that could end up costing states billions of dollars and may be overturned by Trump.

“I am certain that if he was chosen as EPA Administrator, he would be a strong advocate for President Trump’s policies to responsibly unshackle American businesses to be able to hire and grow,” Millis said.

The top two candidates being considered for EPA chief are former Texas regulator Kathleen Hartnett White and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, based on media reports of who Trump has interviewed.

It’s hard to say where van der Vaart stands with Trump’s inner circle, but some on his team are still pushing his name. Sources told The Hill newspaper “Trump and his team are not leaning toward him.”

Van der Vaart, however, still thinks he would be a good choice to head EPA.
“I would be honored to serve in the Trump administration,” van der Vaart told TheDCNF. “I believe that my scientific and legal expertise, along with more than 20 years experience in EPA and state regulatory work, uniquely qualifies me for the position of Administrator.”

Trump is expected to announce his decision on who will lead the EPA in the coming weeks.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/04/tr...d-to-head-epa/

Why don't we just put in place some reasonable laws/rules for companies. It shouldn't be too hard to do. Then prosecute when they break them.

It seems when our government creates these departments - EPA, Education - even energy, it's makes things worse.

Because of the testing and science involved. It's a continual thing for many years when there's a spill or a problem. The courts are ineffective means to monitor and enforce for that reason on most issues. It takes informed personnel on the job just doing this. States could do more but states haven't demonstrated much interest in rattling the cages of their big important industries because the states need the jobs. That's why the EPA was formed. The problem isn't EPA as an agency, it's the leadership. A perfect example is the failure of the EPA to spot the problem even when informed with the drinking water in Flint. That specific disaster is the REASON we have an EPA yet they failed to handle it properly and in fact stated the water was fine when all you had to do was look at the water in a glass or a jar it to know it wasn't fine at all.

EPA can be fixed and Trump will fix it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judy

EPA can be fixed and Trump will fix it.

I hope so.

I didn't mean we shouldn't have the ability to make the tests, present the facts. It just seems when our government creates agencies, it just becomes a magnet for lobbyist and special interests.

Just me, but it also seems more of a buffer for the perpetrator. The more people between a perpetrator and law enforcement, the more people that can be bought.

It becomes an excuse for not getting things done, rather than getting them done.