Tag: Scott Pruitt

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”

The Chemical Industry Scores a Big Win at the EPA

The following article by Eric Lipton was posted on the New York Times website June 7, 2018:

After heavy lobbying by the chemical industry, the EPA narrowed how it will conduct toxic substance safety checks — like perchloroethylene, used in dry cleaning. Credit: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration, after heavy lobbying by the chemical industry, is scaling back the way the federal government determines health and safety risks associated with the most dangerous chemicals on the market, documents from the Environmental Protection Agency show.

Under a law passed by Congress during the final year of the Obama administration, the E.P.A. was required for the first time to evaluate hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals and determine if they should face new restrictions, or even be removed from the market. The chemicals include many in everyday use, such as dry-cleaning solvents, paint strippers and substances used in health and beauty products like shampoos and cosmetics.

But as it moves forward reviewing the first batch of 10 chemicals, the E.P.A. has in most cases decided to exclude from its calculations any potential exposure caused by the substances’ presence in the air, the ground or water, according to more than 1,500 pages of documents released last week by the agency.

Instead, the agency will focus on possible harm caused by direct contact with a chemical in the workplace or elsewhere. The approach means that the improper disposal of chemicals — leading to the contamination of drinking water, for instance — will often not be a factor in deciding whether to restrict or ban them. Continue reading “The Chemical Industry Scores a Big Win at the EPA”

Pruitt enlisted security detail in picking up dry cleaning, moisturizing lotion

The following article by Juliet Eilperin, Josh Dawsey and Brady Dennis was posted on the Washington Post website June 8, 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)

This post has been updated.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt asked members of his 24/7 security detail to run errands for him on occasion, including picking up his dry cleaning and taking him in search of a favorite moisturizing lotion, according to two individuals familiar with those trips who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly.

Pruitt, who also has enlisted agency staffers in tasks including apartment hunting and securing a mattress for his personal use, faces congressional scrutiny over an expanding number of spending and management decisions. Federal rules bar public officials from receiving gifts from subordinates, including unpaid services, and from using their office for private gain. Continue reading “Pruitt enlisted security detail in picking up dry cleaning, moisturizing lotion”

The problems with Pruitt: A complete guide

The following article by Emily Holden, Alex Guillén and Kelsey Tamborrino was posted on the Politico website April 26, 2018 and updated June 20, 2018:

From Chick-fil-A to a stay in a lobbyist’s condo, these are the ethical quandaries spurring investigations into the EPA chief’s conduct.

Spending

His first-class flights, round-the-clock security, new SUV and sweep for bugs have raised questions.

Continue reading “The problems with Pruitt: A complete guide”

Judge orders EPA to disclose any science backing up Pruitt’s climate claims

The following article by Megan Geuss was posted on the arstechnica.com website June 5, 2018:

EPA will have to comply with an information request by July.

Credit: Gage Skidmore, Flick

In March 2017, Scott Pruitt, the new administrator of Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, appeared on CNBC and said that carbon dioxide was not known to be a major factor in climate change. “I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see,” Pruitt said, adding, “there’s a tremendous disagreement about the degree of the impact” of “human activity on the climate.”

Based on what?

The next day, a group called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the EPA, asking for any agency documents that Administrator Pruitt may have relied on to come to his conclusions. Since Pruitt’s words contradicted scientific evidence shared by the EPA before the administrator took office, PEER’s request might turn up some recent document that indicated Pruitt had new information.Instead, the EPA stalled and refused to provide any information to PEER. The employee group then sued the agency. Continue reading “Judge orders EPA to disclose any science backing up Pruitt’s climate claims”

Pruitt Aide Resigns Amid Scandals

The following article by Elaina Plott was posted on the Atlantic website June 6, 2018:

Millan Hupp filed her paperwork shortly after portions of her congressional testimony were made public.

Credit: Kaster/AP Photo

A top aide to Scott Pruitt, Millan Hupp, resigned from the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a source briefed on the matter and correspondence reviewed by The Atlantic. Her last day will be Friday.

Hupp, who worked as the director of scheduling and advance, has been entangled in many of the scandals dogging EPA Administrator Pruitt. In March, she was one of two aides who received hefty salary bumps, even after the White House refused Pruitt’s request for raises. And as The Washington Post reported on Monday, she recently testified to the House Oversight Committee that she regularly spent her days doing personal tasks for Pruitt, from hunting for housing to calling the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., in order to inquire about purchasing a used mattress. Continue reading “Pruitt Aide Resigns Amid Scandals”