Tag: environmental protection agency

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”

New emails reveal Scott Pruitt was personally involved in erasing climate data from EPA website

The following article by Mark Hand was posted on the ThinkProgress website January 29, 2018:

EPA staff also manipulated search results, according to emails.

Scott Pruitt Credit: Pete Marovich/Getty Images

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was personally involved in the purging of information from the agency’s website in the early months of the Trump administration, according to documents obtained by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

Soon after President Donald Trump took office, pages on the EPA’s website about climate change started disappearing or getting redirected to sites touting the president’s fossil fuel agenda. Along with webpages about climate change and climate science, the purge removed the agency’s webpage about the Clean Power Plan, the signature Obama administration effort to curb carbon emissions from power plants and one that Pruitt is now attempting to repeal, the environmental group said Monday in a news release. Continue reading “New emails reveal Scott Pruitt was personally involved in erasing climate data from EPA website”

While you weren’t looking: 5 stories from the Trump administration that aren’t about taxes

The following article by A.P. Joyce was posted on the mic.com website December 18, 2017:

The news this week was dominated by the historic election of Doug Jonesin Alabama and the ongoing machinations to try to pass the Republican tax bill before the senator is sworn in.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been hard at work making consequential policy decisions that affect the U.S. and its relationship with the rest of the world.

Here’s what you might have missed: Continue reading “While you weren’t looking: 5 stories from the Trump administration that aren’t about taxes”

‘Mr. Pruitt is welcome to officially fire me’ – as EPA carries out controversial policy, one scientist balks

The following article by Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin was posted on the Washington Post website November 10, 2017:

Credit:  Melissa Phillips/Associated Press

When EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced a plan recently to forbid scientists who receive grants from the agency from serving as outside advisers, he singled out three key groups: the Scientific Advisory Board, the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee and the Board of Scientific Counselors.

While those rank among the most influential groups in providing the EPA with the scientific and technical advice it historically relies on while crafting environmental regulations, they represent only a portion of the agency’s outside advisers. The EPA boasts 22 advisory committees, offering regulators guidance on everything from children’s health to pesticides to hazardous waste. Continue reading “‘Mr. Pruitt is welcome to officially fire me’ – as EPA carries out controversial policy, one scientist balks”

Scott Pruitt says it’s not the time to talk climate change. For him, it never is.

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website September 9, 2017:

Update: On Friday, during an interview with CNN, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said that it was inappropriate to discuss the effect of climate change on the intensity of Hurricane Irma.

“What we need to focus on is access to clean water, addressing these areas of superfund activities that may cause an attack on water, these issues of access to fuel,” he said. “Those are things so important to citizens of Florida right now, and to discuss the cause and effect of these storms, there’s the… place (and time) to do that, it’s not now.”

As EPA administrator, Pruitt has given no indication that he thinks there’s ever a time to consider the role of climate change. The article below originally ran on Thursday. Continue reading “Scott Pruitt says it’s not the time to talk climate change. For him, it never is.”

EPA Begins Rollback of Obama Clean Power Plan

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website September 9, 2017:

The EPA took significant steps this week to repeal the Obama Clean Power Plan that seeks to cut carbon emissions from the energy sector by 32% by 2030. EPA Chief Scott Pruitt actively opposed the Clean Power Plan as Attorney General of Oklahoma and now, as the head of the EPA, he faces few obstacles as he dismantles one of President Obama’s signature environmental policies.

President Trump signed an executive order in March requiring the EPA to review the Clean Power Plan with the clear intent of repealing it. Since then the EPA has been reviewing the rule and, according to reporting from The Hill, intends to reverse it later this year. The EPA has quietly filed the repeal policy with the Office of Management and Budget for regulatory review.

While a window for public discussion will open after the new rule is entered into the Federal Register, the “EPA expects that the administrator will sign the proposed rule in the fall of 2017.”

View the post here.