Images
By 2020, Earth Day has become much more than a youth movement.
Andrew R. Wheeler
I'm very concerned about the - I want to leave EPA in a better position than in which I found it, when I eventually do leave the agency.
I did do my undergraduate work in biology.
The EPA historically has been an agency where people go to work at the agency and spend their entire career, 30, 40 years at the agency.
Americans have carried the burden of our government's heavy-handed approach to environmental regulation for far too long - with rural and disadvantaged communities bearing the brunt.
America is a global leader on clean air progress and carbon dioxide reductions, and we are the envy of the world when it comes to clean water.
We are working to understand and regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl synthetic chemicals, known as PFAS and PFOS, used to make water-repellent fabrics and non-stick products. These chemicals have been in prevalent use since the 1940s, but we need to learn more about their potential effects on human health and the environment.
I just wish the California officials would focus more on cleaning up the air in their state than trying to look like they're doing something globally for climate change.
So many reporters have blurred the line between reporting and editorializing.
In the past, people have had to hire lawyers or consultants to try to figure out whether or not their property contains a federal waterway. We want to make sure that the definition is clear and concise.
Under President Donald Trump's leadership, EPA has sought to undo and correct the Obama administration's failed regulatory decisions, proving that environmental protection and economic prosperity go hand-in-hand.
When President Donald Trump took office, he immediately began a process to remove and replace undue regulatory burdens that stifle American innovation and economic development. At the top of the list was the Obama Administration's 2015 Waters of the United States rule.
Certainty, and the innovation that thrives in a climate of certainty, are key to progress.
EPA takes its Clean Air Act responsibilities seriously and is committed to providing certainty to state and industry partners. We will not use our authority to pick winners and losers in the energy marketplace.
I believe man has an impact on the climate. But what is not completely understood is what the impact is.
The U.S. is the gold standard for clean air and clean water. We reached that point through private sector innovation and cooperation between Washington and the states to implement our nation's environmental laws.
I did not reach out to the Pruitt E.P.A. at all. I did not lobby them. That was purposeful.
Up to 2.5 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and, as a result, proper sanitation. This fact leads to anywhere from 1 to 3 million deaths every year.
The plastic straw bans, that's not what's creating the problem in the oceans. That's a drop in the bucket, as far as the amount of plastic.
I go hiking. I go camping.
Here at the EPA, the agency will continue to do its best to promote the health and welfare of all Americans.
A cornerstone of President Donald Trump's agenda has been to promote domestic energy production, create jobs and improve economic growth, and he has directed federal agencies to replace or repeal burdensome and outdated regulations that stand in the way of these objectives.
I do not consider myself to be a scientist, and I've always deferred to career scientists on issues of science.
Reliable and affordable energy is the foundation of America's strength. Without it, our prosperity and security can fall outside our control.
Yes, climate is an issue and we are working to address it, but I think water is a bigger issue.
We have the safest drinking water in the world.
In fact, on the drinking water side, the Green New Deal does not value - at least nowhere in the documents does it value - having reliable electric grid.
There is no more important responsibility than protecting human health and the environment. It is a responsibility I take very seriously.
EPA's Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE), would restore the states' proper role under the Clean Air Act and our system of federalism. Our plan would allow states to establish standards of performance that meet EPA emissions guidelines.
California cars have no closer link to California climate impacts than do cars on the road in Japan or anywhere else in the world.
I believe that man does have an impact on the climate, that CO2 has an impact on the climate, and we do take that seriously.
Yes, it's important to get all plastic out of the waste stream.
When you have a thousand children that die a day from lack of drinking water, that's a crisis and that's a crisis that we - we collectively as the world - know how to solve that problem. We know what it takes but we haven't had the will internationally to solve that problem.
I have thought for years environmental issues need to be depoliticized.
Our nation has abundant energy resources available, and American energy resources are extracted, refined and transported in an environmentally conscious manner.
We should be bolstering American energy independence and American jobs - not making ourselves vulnerable by lining the pockets of foreign energy suppliers.
We are elevating this work to address global water security to a new level under President Trump.
The Clean Water Act wasn't designed to allow states to drag out decisions for years or use their Section 401 authority to veto projects of national significance when the projects wouldn't impact water quality.
Our ACE proposal will reduce CO2 approximately the same levels that the Clean Power Plan would have, if it had been implemented. And we're reducing CO2 from our CAFE standards.
I am an Eagle Scout. I am very proud of that. When I was in college I worked summers in a Boy Scout summer camp. I was a nature conservation director.
The PFOA, PFOS is is a real concern and people need to be concerned about it and the water systems need to be concerned about it. But when you only focus on that, it could take resources away from other issues or problems that the water systems have diverted to just this. And this may not be a huge problem in every community.
Since the 1970s, California has failed to carry out its most basic tasks under the Clean Air Act.
We are importing Russian natural gas which is not produced in an environmentally conscious manner. If the states that are blocking the pipelines were truly concerned about the environment, they would look to where the natural gas would be coming from.
My criticism of the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan was that it was outside the four corners of the Clean Air Act.
The Obama administration's Clean Power Plan was stayed by the Supreme Court. That was an historic stay. They had never stepped in at that stage in litigation and actually issued a stay for a Clean Air Act regulation. They did that because I believe the Clean Power Plan was outside of the Clean Air Act. It was outside the bounds of the law.
Since the first Earth Day, the EPA has regulated lead out of paint, air, and gasoline. It started fuel-economy testing (and then caught those cheating on them), phased out ozone-depleting aerosols, and removed cancer-causing pesticides from the marketplace.
We are working on a lot of innovative ways to provide safer drinking water to the American public. Innovative financing ways.
Getting the older cars off the road improves public safety as well as environment.
The critics can't say that our regulations are making the environment worse, and 'Oh, it's getting better, well then it must be somebody else who made it better.'
The fact is that the climate changes regularly.