Tag: Secretary Pruitt

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”

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”