EPA Begins Regulatory Review Process
On March 24, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt initiated the process by which seven of the Agency’s program offices – Air and Radiation, Land and Emergency Management, Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Water, Environmental Information, Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations, and Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization will propose an architecture to evaluate whether and which regulations should be modified or eliminated. Administrator Pruitt’s transmittal memo can be found as an attachment to this article.
By May 15, each program office will submit their recommendations to a newly created Regulatory Reform Task Force and recommendations will be presented to the Administrator. As part of the process, each program office will convene a dedicated public meeting to solicit ideas from the regulated community. EPA Regional offices will also be participating in the process but are asked to send their comments to the Agency’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations (OCIR). OCIR will then consolidate the Regional recommendations before providing them to the task force.
Ryan Jackson, Administrator Pruitt’s Chief of Staff, will chair the EPA Task Force. In his memo, Pruitt states, “The Task Force is charged with evaluating existing regulations and making recommendations to me regarding those that can be repealed, replaced or modified to make them less burdensome.”
This is part of a larger initiative – all Federal Agencies are being asked to undertake a range of similar activities.
Attachment – EPA Memo