April 06, 2018
By Aaron Blake –
Things have gone from bad to worse to even worse for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.
A new Washington Post report cites two sources suggesting Pruitt just gave an at-best-misleading denial of his role in granting two aides raises. Those raises had been flagged because they were rejected by the White House but were then granted using an obscure provision in the Safe Drinking Water Act.
This comes along with questions about Pruitt’s use of first-class travel, his handling of other EPA staff and Pruitt’s renting of a Capitol Hill condo for $50 a night. The Post story quotes a senior EPA ethics lawyer as saying she was effectively forced into a cursory and incomplete review of Pruitt’s condo lease with the wife of a lobbyist — “What they gave me was not the full picture,” she said bluntly.
The Post report, published online Thursday night, also cites two EPA officials who say Pruitt endorsed granting substantial raises to senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt and scheduling and advance director Millan Hupp, though they say he did not carry out the pay raise himself.
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is “to protect human health and the environment.” Disgraced EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt tried his best to undermine this vital mission by choosing to slash critical health protections and let corporate polluters off the hook. Now that Pruitt’s been booted, we need an EPA administrator dedicated to undoing his toxic agenda and restoring the agency to its core mission. Progress is possible and necessary – but another corporate crony or climate skeptic will not get us there.
Scott Pruitt is gone, but the fight is just beginning. We need an EPA administrator who puts our health and environment first, period. Any alternative is unacceptable.
