Despite opposition by Senate democrats, former Oklahoma State Attorney Scott Pruitt was confirmed as the new administrator of the EPA this week. This development coincides with the House's use of the Congressional Review Act to overturn 13 regulations including the Stream Buffer Rule, which helped keep waste material out of natural bodies of water, the National Wildlife Hunting and Fishing Rule, and the Bureau of Land Management Planning 2.0 Rule.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on the Environment held a hearing looking into the modernization of environmental laws. The hearing, titled: Modernizing Environmental Laws: Challenges and Opportunities for Expanding Infrastructure and Promoting Development and Manufacturing, focus ed on how restructuring  regulatory environmental laws could stimulate investment back into domestic infrastructure . The House hearing came the day after the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held their own hearing titled: Oversight: Modernization of The Endangered Species Act.

Additionally , the Army Corp of Engineers announced that it will be granting the final easements necessary to finish the building of the Dakota access pipeline, running directly over the Mississippi River near Keokuk Iowa.