The Trump administration is planning to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its “essential regulatory authority,” according to an administration document obtained by The Washington Post.
The move comes as EPA and its workforce have struggled to enforce a series of new rules designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions, a problem that President Donald Trump has said he is trying to solve with the stroke of a pen.
The EPA is also considering a request by the Trump administration to revoke the agency’s mandate that states set emissions standards for new cars and trucks and impose tougher restrictions on diesel engines.
It is unclear if the move will be adopted.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said in a news conference last week that the agency would “work diligently to ensure that any proposed action has a legal basis.”
In the document, which was obtained by the Post under the Freedom of Information Act, EPA administrator Gina McCarthy outlined plans for an effort to “remove EPA’s regulatory role from states.”
McCarthy’s office said the EPA “has a long history of challenging the power of states to set emissions rules and the need for states to make sure their vehicles meet national standards.”
She said EPA will seek to “reduce the agency to the size and scope of a local government.”
McCarthy also said the agency will consider a proposal to “retire” EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation from its responsibilities as “the lead agency on climate change issues.”
The office has been involved in the fight against climate change and climate policy in the U.S. for years, and is the agency charged with monitoring emissions from cars and other vehicles.
The EPA was founded in 1970 by a handful of civil rights activists and is known for its work protecting people from pollution.
Its first rules, including one to cut sulfur dioxide emissions from diesel cars and others, were signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970.
EPA has since expanded its authority to regulate carbon emissions and clean up air.
It also has worked to regulate toxic substances, including mercury, arsenic and other toxic pollutants.
The agency also has sought to impose stricter limits on ozone, which is a greenhouse gas.
In response to Pruitt’s comments, the Environmental Defense Fund, a pro-environment advocacy group, said the administration was “playing politics with the air and water we breathe.”
The group said EPA has a “history of using regulatory agencies to advance its agenda and ignore the people and the planet it was created to protect.”
EPA is seeking to have the agency reassigned to an office of the attorney general, said Kevin Dutton, a spokesman for the agency.
A White House official said Pruitt’s office would consider “reinstating the EPA’s authority to enforce Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act requirements.”
The proposal could be part of a broader effort by the White House to strip agency regulations of their authority.
Pruitt and other Trump administration officials have previously threatened to roll back EPA’s ability to enforce climate and other environmental rules, such as limits on mercury emissions from power plants.