Tag: EPA

5 Recent Environmental Safety Changes Threatening Children’s Health

The following article by Cristina Novoa and Claire Moser was posted on the Center for American Progress website March 29, 2018:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies before Congress, December 2017. Credit: Getty/Pete Marovich

Imagine learning that water from your tap might be harmful to your family’s health. Imagine that in addition to thinking about the food you feed your children—something you can try to control—you must worry about the water they use to brush their teeth and wash their faces before school. For the past three years, Amy Brown has done just that. When Brown received a letter in 2015 from the NC Department of Environmental Quality warning that her North Carolina home’s water could be contaminated with heavy metals such as lead and mercury, she stopped using it. Today, she and her family continue to use bottled water for basic necessities. Continue reading “5 Recent Environmental Safety Changes Threatening Children’s Health”

Buried, altered, silenced: 4 ways government climate information has changed since Trump took office

The following article by Morgan Currie, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Digital Civil Society Lab, Stanford University, and Britt S. Paris, Ph.D. Student in Information Studies, University of California/Los Angeles was posted on the Conversation website March 21, 2018:

© Getty

After Donald Trump won the presidential election, hundreds of volunteers around the U.S. came together to “rescue” federal data on climate change, thought to be at risk under the new administration. “Guerilla archivists,” including ourselves, gathered to archive federal websites and preserve scientific data.

But what has happened since? Did the data vanish? Continue reading “Buried, altered, silenced: 4 ways government climate information has changed since Trump took office”

House Oversight Probes Scott Pruitt’s Travel Expenses

The following article by Elvina Nawaguna was posted on the Roll Call website February 22, 2018:

EPA administrator has been under fire for first-class travel and luxury hotel stays

Kaster/AP Photo

As questions about the official travel habits of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt mount, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is demanding documents and other information on his first-class flights, as it looks into whether federal laws were broken.

Pruitt has for several months been under fire for incurring high travel costs at taxpayer expense. After recent news reports of Pruitt’s use of expensive first-class flights and stays at luxury hotels, an EPA spokesman said the administrator had been given a “blanket waiver” to fly first class for security reasons. Continue reading “House Oversight Probes Scott Pruitt’s Travel Expenses”

Under fire for travel expenses, Pruitt cancels trip to Israel

The following article by Juliet Eilperin and Ruth Eglash was posted on the Washington Post website February 18, 2018:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies before the Senate Environment Committee on Jan. 30. Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has canceled a nearly week-long trip to Israel, agency officials confirmed Sunday.

Pruitt, who had been scheduled to leave this weekend for an extensive tour of the Mideast ally, has come under fire over the past week for the cost of his domestic and international travel. In May, the head of Pruitt’s security detail recommended he travel either business or first class whenever possible to avoid public confrontations with critics.

“We decided to postpone; the administrator looks forward to going in the future,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said in an email Sunday. She did not provide a reason for the postponement. Continue reading “Under fire for travel expenses, Pruitt cancels trip to Israel”

Pruitt’s security threat? A passenger shouting, ‘You’re f—ing up the environment’

The following article by Alex Guillen was posted on the Politico website February 15, 2018:

Encounters with an angry traveler in the Atlanta airport and other unruly critics prompted EPA security staff to recommend first-class travel for the administrator, the agency says.

EPA’s independent Office of Inspector General told POLITICO on Thursday that none of the threats it has received have been related to Administrator Scott Pruitt’s air travel. Credit: John Shinkle, POLITICO

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s security team decided last year he should fly first class to avoid confrontations with angry individuals on planes and in airports, an agency official said Thursday as EPA sought to explain the chief’s penchant for pricey travel.

“He was approached in the airport numerous times, to the point of profanities being yelled at him and so forth,” Henry Barnet, director of the agency’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, told POLITICO.

“The team leader felt that he was being placed in a situation where he was unsafe on the flight,” said Barnet, a career employee and longtime law enforcement official who joined EPA in 2011. Continue reading “Pruitt’s security threat? A passenger shouting, ‘You’re f—ing up the environment’”

EPA changes its story on Pruitt’s first-class travel

The following article by Eric Wolff, Emily Holden and Alex Guillen was posted on the Politico website website February 14, 2018:

The EPA spokesman said anyone seeking additional details about Pruitt’s travels would have to formally request them under FOIA.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been routinely flying first class at taxpayers’ expense after securing what an agency spokesman had described as “blanket waiver.” Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

EPA on Wednesday retracted its claim that Administrator Scott Pruitt has received a “blanket waiver” to fly first class whenever he travels, after POLITICO pointed officials to federal travel rules that appeared to bar such arrangements.

Pruitt has been routinely flying first class at taxpayers’ expense after securing what EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox had described as “blanket waiver,” POLITICO reported Tuesday. But the General Services Administration says federal rules require agencies’ oversight staffers to sign off on officials’ first- or business-class travel “on a trip-by-trip basis … unless the traveler has an up-to-date documented disability or special need.” Continue reading “EPA changes its story on Pruitt’s first-class travel”

EPA’s Scott Pruitt got waiver to fly business class on foreign carrier from Italy to U.S.

The following article by Julia Goldman was posted on the CBS News website February 13, 2018:

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

WASHINGTON — EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been under fire for frequently flying in first and business class at taxpayer expense. CBS News has learned more about one of those flights, while Pruitt defended his expensive flights in an interview with a New Hampshire newspaper Tuesday.

In early June, Pruitt traveled to Italy for meetings at the Vatican and to attend a summit with international energy ministers. Taxpayers picked up the tab for his round-trip business-class flight, which cost at least $7,000, several times the cost of what was paid for other staffers who accompanied him on the trip. Continue reading “EPA’s Scott Pruitt got waiver to fly business class on foreign carrier from Italy to U.S.”

The Ten Worst Things Scott Pruitt’s EPA Has Already Done

The following commentary by was posted on the Daily Beast December 29, 2017:

Don’t be overwhelmed by bad environmental news—itemize it.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SARAH ROGERS/THE DAILY BEAS

No part of the government has been untouched by the Trump revolution. Multiple Cabinet departments are headed by people opposed to their core missions, the judiciary is being transformed at an unprecedented rate, and thanks to the new tax cut, even the sacred cows of Medicare and Social Security are now in line for legislative slaughter.

But nowhere is the takeover clearer than at the Environmental Protection Agency, now headed by Scott Pruitt, who made his name suing the watchdog on behalf of fossil-fuel interests. In one year, Pruitt has destroyed the foundations of the agency, firing scientists and replacing them with industry lobbyists; undoing critical regulations that protect our air and water; and favoring industry interests over public health. Continue reading “The Ten Worst Things Scott Pruitt’s EPA Has Already Done”

EPA’s Pruitt: Bring back ‘true environmentalism’

The following article by Timothy Cama was posted on the Hill website December 27, 2017:

© Getty

When it comes to environmentalism, Scott Pruitt thinks environmentalists have it all wrong.

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Trump has been on a quest to redefine the mission of the agency and, in the process, redefine what it means to be a guardian of the environment.

Pruitt, the former Republican attorney general of Oklahoma, has said in recent public appearances and interviews that environmentalism ought to mean using natural resources like fossil fuels and agricultural products to their fullest potential, while being mindful of their impact. Continue reading “EPA’s Pruitt: Bring back ‘true environmentalism’”

E.P.A. Delays Bans on Uses of Hazardous Chemicals

The following article by Sheila Kaplan was posted on the New York Times website December 19, 2017:

Senator Frank Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, on Capitol Hill in 2012, a year before his death. He urged the stricter regulation of toxic chemicals.CreditChris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call, via Getty Images

The Environmental Protection Agency will indefinitely postpone bans on certain uses of three toxic chemicals found in consumer products, according to an update of the Trump administration’s regulatory plans.

Critics said the reversal demonstrated the agency’s increasing reluctance to use enforcement powers granted to it last year by Congress under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Continue reading “E.P.A. Delays Bans on Uses of Hazardous Chemicals”