The following article by Megan R. Wilson was posted on the Hill website June 1, 2018:
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt Credit: Andrew Harnik/AP
A lobbyist whose wife rented a condo to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt lobbied the agency for three clients last year, apparently contradicting his claim that he hadn’t represented clients at the EPA during the Trump administration, according to new disclosure forms filed by his former employer.
The following article by Oliver Willis was posted on the Shareblue.com website May 31, 2018:
HUD Secretary Ben Carson added more corruption to the Trump administration by hiring the son of a close friend who was convicted of fraud.
HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson with Pres. Trump in the White House. Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Ben Carson, Trump’s Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary, hired the son of his close personal friend and former business partner to be his deputy chief of staff.
Echoing Trump’s practices, the familial hire puts the offspring of a convicted felon — with no experience in housing — in a position of power and authority over housing. HUD has considerable oversight across the entire country regarding housing policies and other rules and regulations related to American life.
The following article by Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis was posted on the Washington Post website May 20, 2018:
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has faced setbacks on more than half a dozen actions to reverse Obama-era rules. Credit: Andrew Harnik/AP
In March, as part of Scott Pruitt’s aggressive campaign to roll back federal regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed relaxing standards for storing potentially toxic waste produced by coal-burning power plants.
EPA officials cited a study indicating that forcing utilities to get rid of unlined coal ash ponds too quickly could strain the electrical grid in several regions of the country.
But when environmental advocates scrutinized the specifics, they discovered a problem: The evidence cited was not established scientific research. Instead, the agency was relying on a four-page document by the utility industry’s trade association, the Edison Electric Institute, which has acknowledged that its conclusions were not “part of or a summary of a larger study.”
Lisa Evans, a lawyer for the group Earthjustice, was among the advocates who seized on that omission, as well as on gaps in technical data and other evidence, to argue that the agency’s action was ill-advised and legally flimsy.
“The record does not support the proposal,” Evans said, noting that the Obama administration’s 2015 requirement on coal ash drew on years of public input and peer-reviewed scientific studies. “I’ve never seen a rule like this, in terms of the thinness of the evidence.”
The coal ash proposal is among the more than half-dozen major EPA moves that have been snagged by procedural and legal problems. The delays threaten to tarnish Pruitt’s image as an effective warrior in President Trump’s battle against federal regulations, a reputation that has so far saved the EPA administrator his job amid an array of investigations into ethical and management lapses.
Earlier this month, the White House Office of Management and Budget sent back a proposal to ease emissions restrictions for refurbished heavy-duty trucks and ordered the agency to analyze the proposal’s economic impact. That move followed a separate OMB request in April that the EPA offer “some analysis” to show that it would actually yield environmental benefits.
The EPA’s own science advisers have called for a reviewof the “adequacy” of research used not only to justify revoking the truck rule but to reverse fuel-efficiency standards for cars. And over the past year, courts have halted or reversed multiple Pruitt initiatives, in one case forcing the EPA to restore limits on methane leaks from oil and gas operations after a federal appeals panel concluded that their suspension was illegal.
Jeffrey Holmstead, a partner at the law firm Bracewell LLP, who headed the EPA’s air and radiation office under President George W. Bush, thinks it is “premature” to evaluate how durable Pruitt’s policy changes will be.
“Early on, before they really had their folks in place, they sent over a lot of rules that didn’t have a lot of technical support,” Holmstead said, adding that in recent months the Senate has confirmed numerous appointees who previously served at the EPA and so are more experienced in working with career staff. “A lot more work is getting done.”
The following article by Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin was posted on the Washington Post website May 14, 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.
Scott Pruitt began receiving round-the-clock security from the moment he stepped foot inside the Environmental Protection Agency in February 2017, at the behest of a Trump administration political appointee, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.
The EPA’s inspector general said in a letter Monday that Pruitt got extensive protection from the very start of his tenure but did not clarify who requested it. The separate series of emails obtained by The Washington Post shows that the decision to provide Pruitt with 24/7 coverage was made by Don Benton, a Republican former Washington state senator who served as the agency’s senior White House adviser in the first weeks of the new administration. Continue reading “Scott Pruitt requested, received 24/7 security starting on his first day at EPA”
The following article by Judd Legum was posted on the ThinkProgress website April 25, 2018:
Money talks.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney during a House Appropriations Committee hearing, April 18, 2018. Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Last night the New York Times reported Mick Mulvaney, who simultaneously holds two top positions in the Trump administration, admitted to a group of bankers that, as a Congressman, he sold access to lobbyists.
The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website April 25, 2018:
THE BIG IDEA: Mick Mulvaney said the quiet part out loud.
Mick Mulvaney, who runs the OMB and CFPB, testifies last week during a House Appropriations Committee hearing. Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday at the American Bankers Association conference in Washington. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”
The following article by Caroline Orr was posted on the ShareBlue website March 28, 2018:
EPA Director Scott Pruitt just upped the ante of his war on science.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
A leaked memo reveals that the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) sent employees a list of talking points on Tuesday instructing them to cast doubt on the scientific consensus about climate change.
The internal EPA memo, which was obtained by Huff Post, includes a set of eight “approved talking points” sent to EPA staffers by the agency’s Office of Public Affairs.
The talking points instruct employees to highlight scientific uncertainty and lack of evidence linking human activity to climate change — statements that are contradicted by the 2017 federal climate assessment, which concluded that “it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.”Continue reading “Leaked memo shows EPA told employees to lie about climate science”
The following article by A.P. Joyce was posted on the mic.com website March 23, 2018:
This week, the news cycle has centered squarely on the ongoing Russia probe and unfolding drama at the White House, and excluded many other political news developments.
The following article by Nick Juliano was posted on the Politico website February 1, 2018:
Two tribes in Connecticut say the Interior Department illegally failed to say yes or no to their plans for a third casino in the state.
The Interior Department’s refusal to sign off on the tribes’ plans for a third Connecticut casino came after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and other senior department officials held numerous meetings and phone calls with MGM lobbyists and the company’s Republican supporters in Congress. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Two casino-owning American Indian tribes are accusing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke of illegally blocking their plans to expand operations in Connecticut — a delay that stands to benefit politically connected gambling giant MGM Resorts International.
The Interior Department’s refusal to sign off on the tribes’ plans for a third Connecticut casino came after Zinke and other senior department officials held numerous meetings and phone calls with MGM lobbyists and the company’s Republican supporters in Congress, according to a POLITICO review of Zinke’s schedule, lobbying registrations and other documents.The documents don’t indicate whether they discussed the tribes’ casino project. Continue reading “Zinke’s agency held up Indians’ casino after MGM lobbying”
The following article by Will Drabold was in Mic.com’s Navigating Trump’s America email:
Credit: Gary Cameron/Reuters
President Donald Trump’s financial conflicts of interest are well-documented. His companies have seen multimillion-dollar increases in business since he took office, foreign governments and major corporations curry favor by holding events at Trump properties and Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., leases space from the federal government.
The Cabinet also faces serious questions about their ethics. The resignation of Brenda Fitzgerald, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, on Wednesday for investing in tobacco companies while leading America’s anti-smoking efforts reminds us of these issues of transparency and financial motives, government watchdogs told Mic.
