President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to lead the Energy Department were met with jeers inside the Washington Beltway and with cheers in the heartland. It is a disconnect that both explains the election of Trump in November and the challenges his administration will face as it attempts to pull power and authority from the grips of the DC establishment.
In Pruitt and Perry, we have two experienced and principled elected officials from fly-over country who have witnessed firsthand the job-killing, resource-wasting, innovation-stifling work of EPA. For folks in the heartland, EPA stands for “Employment Prevention Agency.”
The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources is charged with regulating oil, gas and mineral development. As regulators who live and raise their children there, they are serious about protecting the environment, but they are also willing to take a balanced approach that encourages prudent resource development and innovation.
Each month, DMR Director Lynn Helms releases his “Director’s Cut,” summarizing oil- and gas-related activity from the previous month. Two-thirds of Helms’ “Director’s Cut” is devoted to actions taken by various federal agencies that affect North Dakota and its energy sector.
A link to the “Director’s Cut” appears below. It may seem like a long technical read, but if you make it to the end, there are birds, bees, butterflies and fish, so keep reading! https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/directorscut/directorscut-2016-12-13.pdf
Helms says greater than “a thousand hours have been spent writing comments, litigating and explaining these regulations. And more than a million dollars have been spent to protect the state, private land and mineral owners, and industry from federal overreach and these top-down, one-size-fits-all regulations.”
On Pruitt and Perry, Helms has this to say: “North Dakota is looking forward to having midwesterners overseeing the regulation of the coal, oil and gas industry. It is time to have someone other than east and west coast people who have no clue about the supply of energy and food regulating the ‘fly over states.’ They are not familiar with split estates and how the mixed private, state and federal property regulatory process is supposed to work.”
The cost of dealing with the unending regulations from EPA and other agencies is ultimately paid by consumers through higher energy costs, by taxpayers subsidizing environmental activists, and by companies and employees.
It’s no surprise then people in North Dakota and other energy-producing states applauded Trump’s energy- and environment-related Cabinet selections, which also include Rep. Ryan Zinke (Montana) for the Department of Interior, because they have lived with the consequences of federal overreach and fought for state sovereignty. Common-sense leadership at EPA and DOE will push decision-making back to the state level, energize America’s traditional energy industries, and put people to work.
The coastal elites and environmental activists do not believe fly-over states should have a voice when it comes to elections, let alone a seat at the table. To them, the Constitution and federalism get in the way of their pursuit of more money and power. The cozy relationship between federal agencies and environmental activists has funneled millions of taxpayers’ dollars to the pockets of environmentalists through sue-and-settle schemes and other scams over the last eight years. They’ll never admit it, but the real reason they oppose nominees such as Perry, Pruitt and Zinke is those selections indicate clearly the gravy train is likely to stop rolling in. Follow the money.
When visiting with North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenejhem recently, he told me: “My friend Scott Pruitt, is an ideal pick to lead the EPA. He brings to the position a record of extraordinary competence, managerial skill, experience with environmental issues from the perspective of a state official, and, importantly, expertise in constitutional law.
“Pruitt’s and my deep respect for the law has made us frequent critics of President Obama’s EPA, because the agency has routinely stepped outside its rightful authority to impose burdensome, expensive, unnecessary and illegal regulations in pursuit of an agenda that Congress has not authorized,” Stenejhem said. “It’s for that reason — not antagonism toward the environment — that I have joined with Attorney General Pruitt and dozens of other state attorneys general in suing the EPA and other federal agencies when appropriate, with notable success.”
I look forward to the day when state attorneys general and state regulators can get back to the work they were chosen by the people of their states to do — protecting their states and citizens — instead of monitoring, fighting and pushing back against a reckless and out-of-control federal government.
It is going to take more than a leadership change at the top of EPA, DOE, DOI and other departments and agencies to see real improvement in our federal government. We need a massive organizational overhaul, from the top to the bottom and in every agency of the federal government. This can only be accomplished if the nation again embraces federalism, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
While it might be too early to tell if the incoming administration will succeed in those endeavors, it’s clear Trump is putting the right people in the right parts of government to set the tone for a much-needed house cleaning.
