Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has taken a lot of shots for bringing a new approach to that job. His "Back to Basics" agenda, combined with the White House's request for reductions in the EPA budget, are part of a Trump administration policy to change course from the one followed in the Obama administration.
That has meant pulling out of the Paris climate accord, reversing or reconsidering regulations on power plant emissions, promoting the coal industry, and loosening fuel-economy rules imposed on automakers. President Donald Trump wants the EPA to focus on other tasks. "We're going to have the cleanest air," he said last month. "We're going to have the cleanest water."
We think the president's skepticism about climate change is mistaken and his opposition to cutting greenhouse gas emissions is dangerous. But he can legitimately say that the American people knew his position on global warming when they elected him. There is nothing wrong with making sure the EPA attends to its responsibility to stop old-fashioned pollution. "These are issues that go directly to the health of our citizens that should be the absolute focus of this agency," Pruitt has said.
But in East Chicago, Ind., that mission seems to lack the urgency it ought to have. As the Tribune's Michael Hawthorne reports, the EPA has "documented hundreds of violations of federal air pollution standards at the Indiana Harbor Coke Co." but "has held off filing a lawsuit against the coke plant."
Since 2010, the agency has cited the facility for six violations. Among the prohibited emissions were sulfur dioxide, which can produce lung damage and respiratory illness as well as aggravate asthma; lead, which can inflict irreversible damage on the brain and nervous system, particularly in children; and particulate matter, which can harm the heart and lungs and cause premature death among people with heart or lung ailments.
The pollution most directly endangers people nearby, notes Hawthorne, "including East Chicago residents whose homes are within a 322-acre area where the EPA's Superfund program is overseeing a long-delayed cleanup." But it also fouls air in Chicago — and as far away as Door County, Wis.
East Chicago, once a leading center of heavy industry, has suffered far more than its share of pollution. The Superfund designation came about because of the nasty toxins that had settled there. Last year, residents of one housing complex had to be moved out because of lead in their soil and drinking water. It's awaiting demolition. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has declared a "disaster emergency" for the Superfund site.
So it stands to reason that cleaning it up and cracking down on polluters would be a high priority for an EPA that plans to concentrate on fundamentals. Pruitt said in April, "I am committed to ensuring that the EPA works with our federal, state and local partners to find solutions that protect the health and safety of East Chicago."
We were glad to hear of that commitment. We'd like to see more evidence of it.