E.P.A. Officials Sidelined After Questioning Scott Pruitt

The following article by Eric Lipton, Kenneth P. Vogel and Lisa Friedman was posted on the New York Times website April 5, 2018:

Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency faced career repercussions after questioning the spending of its administrator, Scott Pruitt, center. Credit: Andrew Harnik/AP

WASHINGTON — At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management of the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.

The concerns included unusually large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, as well as certain demands by Mr. Pruitt for security coverage, such as requests for a bulletproof vehicle and an expanded 20-person protective detail, according to people who worked for or with the E.P.A. and have direct knowledge of the situation.

Mr. Pruitt bristled when the officials — four career E.P.A. employees and one Trump administration political appointee — confronted him, said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. Continue reading “E.P.A. Officials Sidelined After Questioning Scott Pruitt”