Democratic AGs Turn Table on EPA Chief Pruitt

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt is beginning to get a taste of the kind of legal action he brought against the EPA when he was Oklahoma Attorney General.

A coalition of seven Democratic attorneys general filed a legal challenge this week of the EPA’s decision to delay new safety rules on a common pesticide found to harm children’s development.

Led by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, the coalition maintains the decision was a violation of federal law by refusing to adopt safety standards.  Schneiderman and attorneys general from California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington and Vermont contend the public health dangers of the pesticide chlorpyrifos are documented.

It was in March when Pruitt canceled a planned ban of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that has been shown to make farmworkers sick and damage children’s developing brains. Pruitt also stopped a proposal to make sure pesticides including chlorpyrifos are safely applied. It would have required workers handling such pesticides to be at least 18 years old and to have regular safety training.

During his time as Oklahoma Attorney General, Pruitt often was the leader of Republican attorneys general in filing legal challenges to decisions of the Obama administration’s EPA.