The Trump administration’s decision on May 10 to set new guidelines for National Ambient Air Quality Standards could benefit the Environmental Protection Agency greatly if EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt simply follows through on his promises. Given that the EPA has less judicial discretion to change regulatory practice than most other federal agencies, any environmental downsides to the changes will be more limited than critics of the proposal think.

Pruitt has taken a beating on personnel and spending grounds in the past several months, but seems to be marching forward with a raft of changes to agency policy that has been called a “back to basics” platform. In the last 12 months, the EPA has changed its advisory science committee membership rules and ended a system of lawsuit settlement with environmental groups.