Again a legal war is going to happen between the scientists and the Trump administration. The battle has been kick-started by the fossil fuel lobbyists and environmentalists on whether the regulations on chemical plants safety will be defended by the Trump administration.
As written in CNN, a motion has been filed together by The Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club, and the Earthjustice to intercede in the present lawsuit which was filed by the fossil fuel groups in the month of March. The lawsuit asks the Environment Protection Agency of the Trump Administration for a delay or reconsidering the rule which is placing more regulation on chemical plants.
The regulations applied to chemical plants were signed into the Federal Register in the month of January. The regulations were taken as a response to the explosion of the fertilizer plant in West Texas which killed 15 people and more than 16 people were injured. The explosion happened in the year 2013.
Scoopnest reported that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Pruitt had an objection for the EPA's Accidental Prevention Requirements before. Pruitt wrote a letter in the year 2016 during his course as Oklahoma Attorney General to the past EPA administrator to rethink on the rule. Including Pruitt, there were 10 other Attorney Generals who asked EPA for reconsidering the national security concerns in the regulations for chemical plants.
Yogin Kothari, the Washington representative with the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientist, said about the regulations on chemical plants that they are not sure if EPA will defend the regulations or not, but it is a fact that the present EPA administrator opposed this regulation in the past already. The fossil fuel groups sued the EPA for having a review in the rule and stating that the regulations are unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion.
