Foxconn Smog Disaster approved by EPA's Pruitt, who overruled staff! Goodbye Racine...

I thought there was something crazy about the EPA's Foxconn decision to promote smog:

Wow. Hey Trump voters, you think those temporary tax cuts are worth all this? The Trump selling point, of course, is that he's keeping his promises., well then who cares...

Trump EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt will save Foxconn from having to make expensive improvements in an area with some of the state’s dirtiest air. Pruitt also pared back the list of counties with dirty air in Illinois and Indiana, a decision that could add to Chicago’s chronic problems with pollution linked to asthma attacks, heart disease and early deaths.

Pruitt insists he just using the data and existing laws to make decisions, but every solution to prevent harming Wisconsinites got bypassed:

The areas removed from the list were suggested by Republican elected officials...If Pruitt had followed the EPA staff report, Foxconn and other industrial sources of smog-forming pollution in Racine County would have been required to install more effective pollution-control equipment, scale back production or broker costly emissions-trading agreements with cleaner facilities.

To be fair, Walker did search for what he calls "balance"...I don't think he found that yet. In a Trumpian twitter post:

“We continue to search for ways to balance between environmental stewardship and a positive, pro-jobs business environment.”

"Racine, Live here at your own Risk:" Does it really matter who or what state helped create the smog problem, seriously? Blaming Chicago makes it all go away?

Walker blames Chicago for making the air unhealthy to breathe in parts of Wisconsin. However, an EPA staff analysis of industrial pollution, traffic patterns and weather patterns concluded Wisconsin is at least partially responsible for its own smog problems, and documents filed with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources show Foxconn would be a major new source of smog-forming pollution.

Republicans Welcome you to the 1970's: Freedom, sickness, suffering and premature deaths...here we come...:

Pruitt has said one of his top priorities is delegating more authority to states to enforce environmental laws, though one of the reasons the EPA was created in 1970 was states either were unwilling or unable to hold polluters accountable.

Health groups note that most of the country met earlier smog standards far more quickly and at significantly lower costs than expected.

The Obama EPA estimated that most of the nation would meet the new smog standard by 2025, with the biggest improvements in air quality coming from cleaner cars, trucks and power plants required by other federal regulations the Trump administration is attempting to unravel.