Craig Richardson, president of the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, issued the following statement regarding the confirmation of Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency:

America’s manufacturers, energy producers, farmers, ranchers, small business owners, and families have reason to celebrate today’s confirmation of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as the next Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under a reformed EPA, Americans will see much needed balance returned to an agency that has moved well beyond its Constitutional authority and imposed costly, unnecessary job-killing regulations on American businesses and workers, and created skyrocketing electricity costs for our families.

More than 4,000 EPA regulations implemented by the Obama administration have strangled economic growth. Rules regulating methane, ozone and carbon emissions were created without industry guidance or how they would negatively impact our families, as they were thrust upon an unsuspecting nation with enormous compliance costs. The result of the Obama’s EPA is an American manufacturing industry that is losing ground and struggling to compete in a global market, crushing burdens on small businesses, loss of good paying jobs, and an undue burden on the American family.

Attorney General Pruitt has promised that this agency will operate within its statutory limits and with respect to individual states. It makes no sense to continue imposing costly rules and regulations on American businesses and families that do nothing to ensure cleaner air and cleaner water. America can preserve its natural resources while promoting industry growth and job creation. With the involvement of industry, individuals, and environmental experts, EPA regulations can be crafted in a way that protect our natural resources while opening a path for U.S. businesses to prosper, job creation, and economic growth which will enable all Americans access to a livable wage and a clean environment.