Tag: Trump EPA

Emails reveal close rapport between top EPA officials, those they regulate

The following article by Juliet Eilperin was posted on the Washington Post website July 1, 2018:

On the morning of April 1, 2017, Environmental Protection Agency appointee Mandy Gunasekara welcomed to her office a team of lobbyists representing the makers of portable generators.

For months, the Portable Generators Manufacturers’ Association had been trying to block federal regulations aimed at making its product less dangerous. The machines — used by many Americans during power outages after severe storms — emit more carbon monoxide than cars and cause about 70 accidental deaths a year.

Just before President Barack Obama left office, the Consumer Product Safety Commission had approved a proposal that would require generators to emit lower levels of the poisonous gas. Now industry lobbyists were warning Gunasekara of “a potential turf battle . . . brewing” between the commission and the EPA, which traditionally regulates air emissions from engines.

View the article on the Washington Post website here.

Scott Pruitt Personally Involved in ‘Ratf*cking’ Ex-Aides Who He Feels Betrayed Him

NOTE:  We’re aware of Mr. Pruitt’s resignation. We’re continuing to post about his actions in office to help preserve a record of the Trump administration’s corruption.

The following article by Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng was posted on the Daily Beast website June 28, 2018:

The EPA chief demands loyalty. He doesn’t always reciprocate, though.

Credit: Getty Images

On May 18, a top aide to Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt testified to a congressional committee that she had been tasked with procuring her boss a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Just days after news of that testimony broke, the aide, Pruitt’s now former director of scheduling Millan Hupp, submitted her resignation.

But even though Hupp was gone from the agency, Pruitt wasn’t done with her. Continue reading “Scott Pruitt Personally Involved in ‘Ratf*cking’ Ex-Aides Who He Feels Betrayed Him”

Pruitt facing new probe into claims he retaliated against EPA staffers who questioned some decisions

NOTE:  We are aware that former EPA head Scott Pruitt has resigned, but we believe it’s important to provide documentation of the Trump administration’s actions.

Credit: Kaster, AP Photo

The following article by Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis was posted on the Washington Post website June 25, 2018:

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is investigating whether Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt retaliated against staffers who questioned his spending and management decisions, according to three individuals familiar with the probe. Continue reading “Pruitt facing new probe into claims he retaliated against EPA staffers who questioned some decisions”

For Pruitt, gaining Trump’s favor — and keeping it — came through fierce allegiance

The following article by Josh Dawsey, Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis was posted on the Washington Post website June 16, 2018:

EPA Administrator Pruitt joined President Trump last June for the administration’s announcement that the United States would pull out of the Paris climate accord. Credit: Jabin Botsford, The Washington Post

In the run-up to the decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement last May, President Trump wanted the opinion of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. But when the president’s personal secretary called the EPA, Pruitt wasn’t around.

As it turned out, he was already in the White House, having just ordered the ice cream special in the Mess, where he often dined hoping for just such an opportunity to talk to the president. Once in the Oval Office, Pruitt reinforced Trump’s desire to leave the accord, arguing against other advisers so long that an aide had to bring a cup so his melting ice cream wouldn’t drip onto the presidential rug. Continue reading “For Pruitt, gaining Trump’s favor — and keeping it — came through fierce allegiance”

Letter reveals Oklahoma energy PR exec helped Pruitt secure Rose Bowl tickets

The following article by E.A. Crunden was posted on the ThinkProgress website June 15, 2018:

Meanwhile Trump repeats that Pruitt has done a “fantastic job at EPA.”

Credit: Gage Skidmore, Flick

An Oklahoma businessman tied to the energy industry reportedly helped his longtime friend, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt, obtain coveted tickets to see the Rose Bowl in January, according to a letter sent Thursday by a top ranking Democrat. Pruitt is currently the subject of more than a dozen federal investigations, many involving his financial and ethical decisions as leader of the agency.

The letter was sent by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) to Renzi Stone, the head of the communications firm Saxum, which describes itself as having “extensive experience in marketing strategy, crisis communication and public affairs for energy companies.” Continue reading “Letter reveals Oklahoma energy PR exec helped Pruitt secure Rose Bowl tickets”

Why Scott Pruitt’s effort to get his wife a job could be his most consequential scandal

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website June 15, 2018:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt faces rising scrutiny over several ethics issues, including his use of taxpayer money. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

He asked Chick-fil-A. A conservative activist group. Republican donors.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was on a mission to find his wife, Marlyn Pruitt, a job last year, The Washington Post is reporting, and he even used EPA aides to help him do it.

It’s the latest in a months-long string of ethics lapses and alleged abuses of power on Pruitt’s part, but it also could be the most significant for him. Continue reading “Why Scott Pruitt’s effort to get his wife a job could be his most consequential scandal”

Scott Pruitt, Under Fire, Plans to Initiate a Big Environmental Rollback

The following article by Coral Davenport was posted on the New York Times website June 14, 2018:

Credit: Kaster, AP Photo

WASHINGTON — Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is expected on Friday to send President Trump a detailed legal proposal to dramatically scale back an Obama-era regulation on water pollution, according to a senior E.P.A. official familiar with the plan. It is widely expected to be one of his agency’s most significant regulatory rollback efforts.

And, as soon as Monday, the same official said, Mr. Pruitt is expected to publish another major change: his agency’s legal proposal to gut President Barack Obama’s rule to reduce climate-warming pollution from vehicle tailpipes. That proposal risks triggering a court battle with California and raises the prospect that the American car market could be split in two, with different groups of states enforcing different pollution rules.

Mr. Pruitt’s two moves come as he is dogged by allegations of legal and ethical violations and is seeking to burnish his reputation in the eyes of his boss, the president. While Mr. Pruitt has initiated the rollback of dozens of environmental rules over the past year and a half, the latest one-two push comes as he is battling allegations that he improperly used his government post to secure a job for his wife. Continue reading “Scott Pruitt, Under Fire, Plans to Initiate a Big Environmental Rollback”

If Pruitt won’t resign and Trump won’t fire him, what penalty could he face?

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website June 13, 2018:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt faces rising scrutiny over several ethics issues, including his use of taxpayer money. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has seemingly become to governmental ethics what Three Mile Island was to nuclear safety. A constant drumbeat of questions about his ethical behavior — excessive spending on security and office improvements, allegedly leveraging his personal position for his wife’s private gain, using EPA employees for personal work — has created a toxic political Superfund site within the administration of President Trump.

Neither Pruitt nor Trump, though, seems particularly concerned about it. Asked several months ago about the allegations Pruitt faces, Trump and his team said that they were looking into the issue, a bit of research that hasn’t resulted in any public acknowledgment of the questions that have been raised. The consensus is that any other president faced with a Cabinet-level official surrounded by a similar swarm of questions would have fired the official long ago, or that the official would have resigned. Tom Price, once Trump’s secretary of health and human services, resigned after only a small slice of similar alleged activity was revealed. Pruitt, though, is carrying on as though nothing had happened. Continue reading “If Pruitt won’t resign and Trump won’t fire him, what penalty could he face?”

EPA chief Scott Pruitt tapped aide, donors to help wife land job at conservative group

The following article by Juliet Eilperin, Josh Dawsey, Brady Dennis and Shawn Boburg was posted on the Washington Post website June 13, 2018:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt faces rising scrutiny over several ethics issues, including his use of taxpayer money. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt last year had a top aide help contact Republican donors who might offer his wife a job, eventually securing her a position at a conservative political group that has backed him for years, according to multiple individuals familiar with the matter.

The job hunt included Pruitt’s approaching wealthy party supporters and conservative figures with ties to the Trump administration. The individuals said he enlisted Samantha Dravis, then serving as associate administrator for the EPA’s Office of Policy, to line up work for his wife. Continue reading “EPA chief Scott Pruitt tapped aide, donors to help wife land job at conservative group”

In the Trump Administration, Science Is Unwelcome. So Is Advice.

The following article by Carol Davenport was posted on the New York Times website June 9, 2018:

As the president prepares for nuclear talks, he lacks a close adviser with nuclear expertise. It’s one example of a marginalization of science in shaping federal policy.

Pres. Trump is the first president since 1941 not to name a science adviser. Credit: Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — As President Trump prepares to meet Kim Jong-un of North Korea to negotiate denuclearization, a challenge that has bedeviled the world for years, he is doing so without the help of a White House science adviser or senior counselor trained in nuclear physics.

Mr. Trump is the first president since 1941 not to name a science adviser, a position created during World War II to guide the Oval Office on technical matters ranging from nuclear warfare to global pandemics. As a businessman and president, Mr. Trump has proudly been guided by his instincts. Nevertheless, people who have participated in past nuclear negotiations say the absence of such high-level expertise could put him at a tactical disadvantage in one of the weightiest diplomatic matters of his presidency.

“You need to have an empowered senior science adviser at the table,” said R. Nicholas Burns, who led negotiations with India over a civilian nuclear deal during the George W. Bush administration. “You can be sure the other side will have that.” Continue reading “In the Trump Administration, Science Is Unwelcome. So Is Advice.”