I had to check the date of this Washington Times article by Ben Wolfgang, just to make sure it wasn’t already April 1.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday sent out a press release touting praise for President Trump’s rollback of Obama-era climate-change regulations this week — but the agency accidentally led the email with a blistering quote from a Democratic critic. The press release includes a quote from Sen. Tom Carper, Delaware Democrat and ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, wrongly attributed to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican. The email, titled “What They Are Saying About President Trump’s Executive Order on Energy Independence,” opens with a complete and total takedown of that order. “With this executive order, President Trump has chosen to recklessly bury his head in the sand. Walking away from the Clean Power Plan and other climate initiatives, including critical resiliency projects is not just irresponsible — it’s irrational,” reads the quote by Mr. Carper but listed as coming from Ms. Capito.

Accident? That certainly is one explanation. However, I like this one:

A simple proof-reading would have caught the error-filled opener…in a more professional environment, that is.

…There were three apparent problems with the quote, which was featured prominently atop the E.P.A.’s press release. First, it wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of Trump’s executive order. Second, the release misspelled the senator’s first name. And third, Capito never actually said any of that. The E.P.A. accidentally attributed the quote to Capito, when it had actually come from Democratic senator Tom Carper of Delaware, the Democrat leading the Environment and Public Works Committee. Oops. In reality, Capito’s statement praised Trump for signing the executive order: “If fully implemented, the Clean Power Plan would have completely decimated West Virginia’s vital coal industry while having no meaningful climate impact,” Moore said. “I was honored to join the president for the signing of this Executive Order, and I look forward to continuing working with the Trump administration to advance environmentally responsible policies that grow the economy—not kill jobs.” The misattribution, the E.P.A. said, was the result of human error.

During the 8-years of Obama’s administration, perhaps the only problems in EPA press releases were the misspelling of words conveying the ex-President’s awesome awesomeness.

The EPA next press release is likely to target the U.S.Congress, which has just issued legislation to restrain its misuse of science.

The Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act, or HONEST Act, passed 228-194. It would prohibit the EPA from writing any regulation that uses science that is not publicly available. It’s the latest push by House Republicans to clamp down on what they say has turned into an out-of-control administrative state that enforces expensive, unworkable regulations that are not scientifically sound.

I am sure the EPA employees will respond to the new rules with professionalism and decorum.

April Fool’s!



