Pruitt: ‘We’re Going to Be Energy Dominant and Energy Independent’

EPA administrator reflects on Paris one-year later, controversy

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said America would soon be "energy dominant and energy independent," a year after President Trump pulled out of the Paris climate accord.

Pruitt called leaving the agreement "historic" and addressed controversy over his leadership at the agency, saying the president fully supports him, in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon.

"The president a year ago this Friday said he's going to put America first," Pruitt said. "We weren't as a country going to be apologetic about how we do business, with respect to these environmental issues."

Pruitt said technology and innovation has allowed the United States to lead the world in carbon emission reduction, and had no reason to be in a "failed agreement" the Obama administration made in Paris.

"You wouldn't know that from the media, you wouldn't know that from the discussion in Washington, but literally, we've led the world," Pruitt said. "Why would we ever go to Paris, as we did in 2015, and apologize to the rest of the world? And allow China and India not to have to take any steps of CO2 reduction until 2030?"

"I firmly believe this accord was more label than reality," he said. "It was not about action and results. It was about politics."

Pruitt said environmental outcomes are improving, despite dire predictions about leaving the Paris agreement.

"Our air quality with respect to ozone is 10 percent better than the last time it was measured," he said. "We're cleaning up more superfund sites across the country, we're investing in infrastructure to address lead in our drinking water. Environmental outcomes are improving at the same time that we're saving $1 billion in regulatory costs."

"We're actually demonstrating as a country you can be about jobs and growth and environmental stewardship at the same time," Pruitt said.

Pruitt is adamant that defending the environment and growth in the fossil fuel industry can occur at the same time.

"Imagine an agency of the federal government declaring war on coal?" he said, alluding to the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan to shrink the coal industry by half.

"For an administration to engage in a war against fossil fuels is just simply wrongheaded to begin with," Pruitt said. "But this president from the very beginning said that, ‘The war on coal is over.'"

"We're going to be energy dominant and energy independent," he said. "When you see that taking place, that's the reason there's tremendous optimism across the country, tremendous optimism for our economy and the future and the ability to be about stewardship, and jobs and growth."

Pruitt also addressed a series of controversies in recent months over his leadership at the agency, including aides receiving high pay raises and accusations of extravagant spending.

"I knew it would be noisy," he said. " I knew it would be challenging. It's been intense the last couple of months. But [Trump] has been very encouraging, very empathetic, and very supportive."

Pruitt said Trump has spoken "very strongly and consistently" in support of him, and deflected from criticism saying he was unaware or not involved in some spending decisions made at the agency.

"I think [the president] recognizes what this is really about, in the sense of when we took on these efforts at the agency to change the way we do business from an EPA perspective—this has been a bastion of the left for many years," he said. "This agency has been a safe haven in advancing against certain sectors of our economy, to change that creates a lot of controversy, a lot of un-comfortableness with those who have grown comfortable with the agency over the years."

Pruitt said he has implemented spending reforms, arguing career EPA staffers were making decisions without "proper checks and balances."

One of the changes made, Pruitt said, is the EPA's CEO, CFO, and deputy administrator now must approve purchases over $5,000.

"Making sure we adjust those processes to ensure that there's proper checks and balances as we go forward I think is important and to recognize that, and so we're making those changes," he said.

http://freebeacon.com/issues/pruitt-going-energy-dominant-energy-independent/

U.S. Sees ‘Tremendous Potential’ for Peace Talks Between Afghanistan, Taliban

Significant drop in violence during Taliban's spring offensive

Some Taliban leaders are participating in private talks with Afghanistan government officials to jumpstart peace talks, even as fighting endures in the 16-year war, the top U.S. commander in the country said Wednesday.

Army Gen. John Nicholson said the talks, involving mid-level and senior-level Taliban fighters, are at a preliminary stage and are taking place almost entirely behind-the-scenes. He said some Taliban figures and leaders have publicly expressed interest in reconciliation despite recent attacks on government facilities.

"I call this talking and fighting," Nicholson told reporters at the Pentagon. "We've seen this in other conflicts, such as Colombia, where the two sides were talking about peace at the same time that they were fighting each other on the battlefield."

Nicholson cited a significant drop in violence during the Taliban's annual spring offensive compared to recent years as evidence that President Donald Trump's new Afghanistan strategy was succeeding in pressuring the Taliban into a peace process.

This latest round of discussions arrives three months after Afghan president Ashraf Ghani issued a peace offer "without preconditions" to the Taliban in February. Ghani promised a ceasefire and prisoner swap in exchange for the Taliban recognizing the Afghan government and rule of law.

Though the Taliban has yet to respond to the offer, Nicholson said there is a "robust dialogue going on inside the Taliban." He said the talks involve "various stakeholders," including international governments and organizations, "all of whom are engaged to varying degrees of dialogue" with Taliban leaders and its members.

"My diplomatic colleagues are the ones involved with this, and their ability to be successful depends in part on the confidentiality of the process," Nicholson said, adding, "there is tremendous potential to advance the reconciliation dialogue."

Nicholson's remarks came hours after Afghan security guards foiled a suspected Taliban attack on the Interior Ministry in Kabul. All of the suspected Taliban fighters were killed or captured after they attempted to enter the government compound wearing outdated U.S. Army uniforms and driving a stolen Humvee.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility just hours after the attack, but Nicholson said the tactics "track with" those used by the Taliban-Haqqani network.

http:// freebeacon.com/national-security/u-s-sees-tremendous-potential-peace-talks-afghanistan-taliban/

>>1592770

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