MORE GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS: In addition to Glenn’s point below about America’s emission still declining, there was the good news yesterday that EPA head Scott Pruitt will be moving to stop “sue-and-settle,” the process by which the agency reached deals with enviro groups that threatened court action, in effect letting the green groups dictate priorities.

However, as my colleague Will Yeatman points out, the real problem is the EPA missing its statutory deadlines on purpose to allow this to happen:

During the Obama administration, for example, the EPA missed 84 percent out of more than 1,000 Clean Air Act deadlines by an average of 4.3 years. The problem is that the agency’s failure to meet its legal responsibilities allows environmental special interests to sue and thereby dictate regulatory priorities to the EPA.

Any solution to this problem must start with the EPA making timely performance of its responsibilities a priority, which the agency has yet to do under any administration.

In other words, the EPA has habitually put its discretionary responsibilities above its mandatory responsibilities. If Scott Pruitt can change that culture, the swamp will be a little less murky (although still in dire need of draining).