by Coral Davenport
New York Times Reporter
President Trump has made rolling back environmental regulations a centerpiece of his administration, moving to erase Obama-era efforts ranging from landmark fuel efficiency standards and coal industry controls to more routine rules on paint solvents and industrial soot.
But all along, scientists and lawyers inside the federal government have embedded statistics and data in regulatory documents that make the rules vulnerable to legal challenges. These facts, often in the technical supporting documents, may hand ammunition to environmental lawyers working to block the president’s policies…
Steven J. Milloy, a member of Mr. Trump’s E.P.A. transition team, echoed Mr. Pyle. “It’s been obvious since the beginning of the Trump administration that the career staff is sabotaging the rulemakings, deliberately seeding them with numbers that can help the enviros sue.”…
Mr. Milloy said such protections were having an impact. “I was hoping Trump would be able to fire these people, but you can’t, legally,” he said. “You can’t discipline them. The most you can do is give them another assignment.”
