{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398653", "Congressman Griffith's Weekly E-Newsletter 12.12.16", "2016-12-12", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Morgan Griffith", "G000568", "morgangriffith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Clearing the Air at the EPA\r\nPresident-elect Donald Trump\u2019s appointment of Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is welcome news. As Oklahoma\u2019s attorney general, Pruitt has strongly pushed back against many rules and regulations coming from Washington, DC. In particular, he has led states in suing to block the EPA\u2019s overreaching policies.\r\nMany in the media report this news with shock. They wonder how someone \u201cCURRENTLY SUING\u201d the EPA could possibly be fit to lead it. I wish those stunned by this appointment would listen to or read the testimony I have heard from EPA officials in Energy and Commerce Committee hearings. What I find stunning is the logic offered by agency officials to justify actions at odds with the plain text of laws passed by Congress.\r\nTake the Clean Power Plan. I have written often in this column about the EPA\u2019s claim that it can use the Clean Air Act to force states to create and implement a plan to reduce their carbon emissions. It is bad for coal miners and all consumers of electricity, but it is also bad for the rule of law. Under the Clean Power Plan, the EPA claims it can regulate existing power plants under Section 111(d) of the\u00a0Clean Air Act, but the EPA already regulates them under Section 112. The problem is that the language of the Clean Air Act prohibits this type of dual regulation, a point that the EPA itself has conceded in the past (before changing its tune).\r\nWhen famed liberal legal scholar Laurence Tribe, who taught America\u2019s first environmental law class and mentored President Obama, testified before the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power, he stated:\r\n\u201cEPA is attempting an unconstitutional trifecta: usurping the prerogatives of the States, Congress, and the Federal Courts \u2013 all at once.\u00a0 Much is up for grabs in this complex area.\u00a0But burning the Constitution of the United States \u2013 about which I care deeply \u2013 cannot be part of our national energy policy\u2026\u201d\r\nThe EPA cited the Clean Air Act in another power grab, this time to regulate truck trailers. The law authorizes the EPA to regulate emissions from motor vehicles, defined in the US code as follows:\r\n42 USC 7550(2)\r\nThe term \u201cmotor vehicle\u201d means any self-propelled vehicle designed for transporting persons or property on a street or highway.\r\nWhen I asked EPA official Janet McCabe how a trailer could be considered a self-propelled vehicle, she claimed that trailers are covered because, \u201cwithout a trailer, a truck is not transporting goods.\u201d Based on this logic, because trucks don\u2019t currently drive themselves, the EPA could regulate the size of the driver, too!\r\nOn a number of occasions during the current administration, the courts have found that federal agencies exceeded their authority in making rules. The fact that this has happened repeatedly tells me that many of the lawyers employed by the federal government are not doing their jobs.\r\nLawyers employed by the federal government should not evaluate proposed regulations by their goal or their supervisors\u2019 wishes, but rather by their compliance with the Constitution and the law. \r\nI believe that the lawyers for the EPA and other agencies have acted with malfeasance in this regard. When the federal government\u2019s lawyers improperly sign off on ridiculous arguments, Scott Pruitt and other state attorneys general have a duty to stand up for the powers the Constitution reserves to the states, just as congressmen have the duty to stand up for the powers delegated to the legislative branch.\r\nAs EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt\u2019s first task should be to clean house in the EPA\u2019s Office of General Counsel, which provides legal advice to the agency.\r\nUnder its present leadership, the EPA apparently believes that it\u2019s better for a thousand people to lose their jobs than for a single tree to be axed or one chunk of coal to be burned. We need the EPA to balance protecting our environment without destroying our economy. As the Supreme Court ruled in Michigan v. Environmental Protection Agency, it should not pursue an environmental agenda at all costs.\r\nThe EPA must also recognize that it should carry out the laws passed by Congress, not rewrite them or create new ones. \r\nScott Pruitt has shown that he understands the proper role of the EPA. He is an excellent choice to lead the EPA and I urge the Senate to confirm him promptly.\r\nIf you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. \u00a0You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.\u00a0To reach my office via email, please visit my website at\u00a0www.morgangriffith.house.gov. \u00a0Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398653"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.505166059359908, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}