Under fire for ethics scandals, U.S. EPA chief Pruitt resigns

By John Whitesides

 

FILE PHOTO: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt takes questions about the Trump administration's withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris climate accords during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, who pleased President Donald Trump with his aggressive efforts to roll back environmental regulations, resigned on Thursday under heavy fire for a series of ethics controversies.

 

Pruitt was one of Trump's most effective Cabinet members, slashing regulations on the energy and manufacturing industries, including his move to repeal Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature programme to cut carbon emissions from power plants, dubbed the Clean Power Plan.

 

He was also instrumental last year in lobbying Trump to withdraw the United States from the global 2015 Paris climate accord to combat global warming.

 

But Pruitt lost favour with Trump’s inner-circle after a string of controversies ranging from his first-class travel at taxpayer expense, lavish spending on security, the installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office, and accusations he used his position to receive favours such as a discounted rental on a high-end condo from an energy lobbyist's wife.

 

"The unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us," Pruitt said in his resignation letter.

 

Trump announced the resignation on Twitter and said EPA Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former mining industry lobbyist, will become the regulatory agency's acting chief on Monday. Wheeler is widely expected to continue Pruitt's efforts to roll back and streamline regulation.

 

"Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this," Trump wrote. Trump told reporters later that Pruitt had approached him and offered to resign, as opposed to being pushed out.

 

Democrats and environmental advocacy groups cheered the departure of Pruitt, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry who has often questioned mainstream climate change science.

 

"Scott Pruitt's reign of venality is finally over. He made swamp creatures blush with his shameless excesses. All tolerated because Trump liked his zealotry. Shame," Democratic U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly said.

 

The Environmental Working Group, a public health and environment watchdog, called Pruitt "unquestionably the worst head of the agency in its 48-year history."

 

Pruitt also rankled some Republican lawmakers, including in Midwest corn states, with his efforts to overhaul a U.S. policy requiring biofuels like corn-based ethanol in gasoline.

 

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said Trump made the “right decision”.

 

Other Republicans, as well as coal and oil industry groups, issued statements Thursday evening saying Pruitt had been a good friend to industry.

 

"Scott Pruitt did great work to reduce the regulatory burdens facing our nation while leading the Environmental Protection Agency," said Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, from Pruitt's home state of Oklahoma.

 

"POLICY WILL REMAIN"

Pruitt’s interim replacement, Wheeler, was a former lobbyist for Murray Energy, the nation’s largest underground coal mining company, and also worked for Inhofe – a self-described climate sceptic - on efforts to combat climate legislation.

 

Matt Dempsey, an energy lobbyist at consultancy FTI, said Wheeler will be less controversial than Pruitt, but without changing the agenda.

 

"He will be less political and more straightforward in his approach to the job, which is better for the Trump administration agenda in the long run. The politics will pass but the policy will remain," he said.

 

That alarmed some critics of the agency’s policies under the Trump administration.

 

Michael Mikulka, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 704, which represents some EPA workers in the Midwest, said Wheeler "has the potential to be just as destructive."

 

"We urge him to immediately commit to undoing the massive damage to EPA’s work done under Pruitt’s leadership," he said.

 

Pruitt's was facing around a dozen investigations into his tenure, including his frequent use of first-class flights and his spending on security – which the agency has defended as necessary to defend him against unprecedented threats.

 

Travel records showed the U.S. government spent $17,000 in taxpayer money on a December trip to Morocco to promote U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas, which is not part of the EPA's jurisdiction. The Washington Post reported that a longtime Pruitt friend and lobbyist helped arrange the trip and later registered as a foreign agent representing Morocco.

 

 

In one of the investigations, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded the EPA violated two laws by installing the $43,000 phone booth for his office without telling lawmakers first. Pruitt said his staff never told him the cost.

 

Some of the ethics accusations against Pruitt also involved jobs for his wife. Emails obtained by the Sierra Club environmental group showed Pruitt had an aide contact the chief executive of a fast-food chain about his wife becoming a franchise owner.

 

The Washington Post reported Pruitt had aides also try to get her a job at the Republican Attorneys General Association with a salary topping $200,000 per year.

 

During congressional testimony in April, Pruitt was unapologetic for the controversies, often blaming his staff for any agency missteps.

 

Pruitt was also known for questioning the human role in global climate change. As Oklahoma's former attorney general, he waged a legal fight against environmental rules implemented by the agency he eventually would head.

 

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Eric Walsh, Eric Beech and Makini Brice and James Oliphant; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Will Dunham and Tom Brown)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-06

Finally.  Fourteen ethics scandals while in office - nearly one per month.  The worst of Trump's slimy swamp creatures.

Excellent.  Best news this week so far.  But he should be indicted for malfeasance or misuse of public funds.

50 minutes ago, attrayant said:

Finally.  Fourteen ethics scandals while in office - nearly one per month.  The worst of Trump's slimy swamp creatures.

Not sure if he's the worst of them. I mean, he's facing some really REALLY stiff competition for that title - not least from the Swamp King himself.

I agree a really flakey dude traitor don kept him around to annoy the dems but he is a liability with the midterms around the corner

But at least Trump promptly fired him in order to keep that swamp drained. Well, maybe next time. Zinke comes to mind.

Edited July 6, 20188 yr by bristolboy

The guy is a weasel....good riddance!

 

 

 

1 hour ago, attrayant said:

Finally.  Fourteen ethics scandals while in office - nearly one per month.  The worst of Trump's slimy swamp creatures.

 

Drain the swamp???  Hahahahahaha!!!!

 

But don't worry Trump fans. I'm sure the Donald will end up replacing Pruitt with someone equally as bad, at least when it comes to ignoring and derailing the mission of the agency he/she is supposed to be leading.

 

If it's true that Trump and his aides didn't suggest it was time for Pruitt to leave, that also speaks volumes about the "Swamp Drainer" in charge. He knows no shame, no sense of ethics, propriety, or good government.

 

 

23 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

But at least Trump promptly fired him in order to keep that swamp drained. Well, maybe next time. Zinke comes to mind.

Well, I'm not sure if the word "promptly fired" applies here.  Trump never cared how corrupt, dishonest, or unethical Pruitt was.  The only thing that mattered to Trump was all the bad press was starting to rub off on HIM.  Trump could get all the bad press on his own, he didn't need one of his underlings piling on.  Pruitt could have pandered to special interest, lavish himself and his wife with taxpayer money,  destroyed the environment and wildlife in all of America, and Trump wouldn't bat an eye.  But if you make Trump look bad, you're outta here!

33 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Drain the swamp???  Hahahahahaha!!!!

 

But don't worry Trump fans. I'm sure the Donald will end up replacing Pruitt with someone equally as bad, at least when it comes to ignoring and derailing the mission of the agency he/she is supposed to be leading.

 

If it's true that Trump and his aides didn't suggest it was time for Pruitt to leave, that also speaks volumes about the "Swamp Drainer" in charge. He knows no shame, no sense of ethics, propriety, or good government.

 

 

Yes, I'm sure the swamp has someone else who can be drained into Trump's inner circle.

43 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I'm sure the Donald will end up replacing Pruitt with someone equally as bad, at least when it comes to ignoring and derailing the mission of the agency he/she is supposed to be leading.

 

Most likely the deputy director, Andrew Wheeler, will move into Pruitt's role.  Wheeler doesn't have the ethics baggage and will continue with Trump's 'Rape the Environment' policy.

12 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

Most likely the deputy director, Andrew Wheeler, will move into Pruitt's role.  Wheeler doesn't have the ethics baggage and will continue with Trump's 'Rape the Environment' policy.

Wheeler may not have ethical issues (that we're aware of), but he's certainly no friend of the environment.  He's a climate change denier and has worked as lobbyist for the coal industry.  How Trump always manages to find the absolute worst people for important jobs is beyond me. 

35 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

Wheeler may not have ethical issues (that we're aware of), but he's certainly no friend of the environment.  He's a climate change denier and has worked as lobbyist for the coal industry.  How Trump always manages to find the absolute worst people for important jobs is beyond me. 

He and Trump are going to drain the swamp by filling it with clean coal.

Hummmm, ethics issues with Trump's EPA guy.

 

How about 32 scandals in Obama's EPA.

 

 https://lists.grabien.com/list-epa-scandals-under-obama-administration

 

 

" 

The problems with Pruitt: A complete guide

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.

 

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2018/scott-pruitt-epa-ethics-spending/

48 minutes ago, jb61 said:

Hummmm, ethics issues with Trump's EPA guy.

 

How about 32 scandals in Obama's EPA.

 

https://lists.grabien.com/list-epa-scandals-under-obama-administration

 

 

 

Whataboutit?  That's a cool site.  Looks like anyone can create an account and make up a list.

 

Anyway this is a list of allegations with links to mostly blogs and op-ed stories.  One of the "scandals" listed is "being at the helm of the EPA during  the Flint Water crisis".  Another scandal is "The EPA warned Alaskans to stop burning wood to keep warm".  OH MY GOD!  Can somebody find out if Trey Gowdy is finished investigating Benghazi so he can start up an investigation on this scandal!

 

Also this: "EPA workers at a Landover warehouse turned the space into a personal rec room/gym."  But when you follow the link to the WaPo story, it turns out they were not EPA workers, but private contractors who were using the space.  So this item is a bold-faced lie.

 

 

So private contractors were abusing rented space, and the EPA got rid of them when it was discovered.  Can you explain to me how that's an EPA scandal?

 

If this list is the best you can do, then I'm feeling pretty good about the Obama EPA.

Don't expect this to be the last resignation,  there are plenty more in the pipeline.

About f.time! Pompous egotistical self-serving ass. Donnie said he'd bring in the best people...ha. Both f.dorks!

"Lotion Boy" hits the road.

 

Coal baron Joe Craft must be bummed.

 

One can only imagine the shenanigans he got up to as the Attorney General of Oklahoma.

 

So he's off to his Chick-Fil-A franchise? (Take Sundays off.)

 

Hopefully, he's prosecuted for his myriad illegal activities.

Pruitt staffers worried about toxic chemical in his desk

 

Former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt's nearly $10,000 office redecoration included the purchase of a desk his staffers feared was contaminated by a toxic chemical.

 

Email interactions between EPA staffers first reported by Politico on Friday, showed that aides worried about the potential health effects of formaldehyde found in the desk. The fears they raised came just months before the EPA blocked the release of a report highlighting the dangers of formaldehyde exposure in drinking water.

 

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/398075-pruitts-staffers-feared-toxic-contamination-from-his-desk?__twitter_impression=true