Scott Pruitt’s week has been one for the record books. As the environmental community calls for his removal as EPA administrator, he’s also under four separate investigations, he’s fumbling his response to reports that he got a special deal to live in a top energy lobbyist’s house AND he’s worked to pressure EPA employees to erase the science of climate change. Now it appears he’s even getting on the White House’s bad side.
For the past year, Pruitt has been wasting taxpayer resources through unnecessary luxury travel, dismantling dozens of bedrock environmental protections, and fighting allegations of conflicts of interest as he carries water for his industry cronies.
But this week takes the cake. Take a look:
1.Just yesterday, ABC News reported that Pruitt lived in the condo of a top energy lobbyist in D.C.
ABC News: Exclusive: More Cabinet Trouble for Trump? EPA Chief Lived in Condo Tied to Lobbyist “Power Couple”
For much of his first year in Washington, President Trump’s EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt occupied prime real estate in a townhouse near the U.S. Capitol that is co-owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist, property records from 2017 show.
Neither the EPA nor the lobbyist, J. Steven Hart, would say how much Pruitt paid to live at the prime Capitol Hill address, though Hart said he believed it to be the market rate. The price tag on Pruitt’s rental arrangement is one key question when determining if it constitutes an improper gift, ethics experts told ABC News.
2.And then Bloomberg found that he paid just $50 a night, seriously calling into question whether he violated ethics rules and drawing White House scorn.
Bloomberg: EPA Chief’s $50-a-Night Rental Raises White House Angst
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s lease at a Washington apartment owned by a lobbyist friend allowed him to pay $50 a night for a single bedroom — but only on the nights when he actually slept there.
White House officials are growing dismayed about the questions surrounding Pruitt’s living arrangement, including his initial inability to produce any documentation about his lease or his actual payments, according to three officials.
3.Minutes ago, ABC revealed that Pruitt’s family was also staying in the condo, contradicting the EPA’s earlier pushback.
ABC News: EXCLUSIVE: EPA chief Pruitt joined by family in condo tied to lobbyist ‘power couple’
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s adult daughter used a second room in the Capitol Hill condo co-owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist, ABC News has learned, despite statements from the EPA that Pruitt paid for only one bedroom.
While Bloomberg reported Pruitt’s lease did not allow him access to common areas in the unit, a source familiar with the arrangement told ABC News that Pruitt’s daughter would often make her father breakfast, encouraging him to eat healthy and would slip avocado into his eggs.
4.Also today, CNN reported that his unprecedented security detail followed him on non-official business, including trips home to Tulsa, a family vacation in Disneyland, and a trip to the Rose Bowl game.
CNN: Senator: Pruitt Security Included Disneyland, Rose Bowl Trips
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s 24-hour security in Washington extends to at least some of his personal trips, according to a letter Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse sent to the department’s inspector general and shared with CNN.
The letter, written based on information that Whitehouse says he confidentially obtained from an unnamed source, raises new questions about the cost of Pruitt’s unprecedented EPA-funded security, and alleges that Pruitt has used his security detail while on non-official business, including trips home to Tulsa, Oklahoma, a family vacation to Disneyland and the Rose Bowl game.
5.And if all of this wasn’t bad enough, let’s not forget news that the EPA is urging employees to deny climate change science in official guidance.
Huffington Post: Leaked Memo: EPA Shows Workers How To Downplay Climate Change
The Guardian: EPA Accused of Urging Staff to Downplay Climate Change after Memo Leaks
CNN: EPA Talking Points Downplay Role of Human Activity in Climate Change
Energy 202: Scott Pruitt’s Climate Message Is Now Official EPA Guidance
Vice: EPA’s Leaked Talking Points Show Agency Now Has Doubts Humans Cause Climate Change
6.And the Associated Press swiftly published a fact check that made it clear that the memo stands in direct contrast to established science.
Associated Press: AP FACT CHECK: Science Contradicts EPA Warming Memo
Climate scientists say an internal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency memo on how officials should talk to the public about global warming doesn’t reflect reality.
The Associated Press, which also obtained the memo, contacted 15 climate scientists. They all said EPA wasn’t accurately portraying the degree of knowledge that researchers know about climate change and humanity’s role. For decades, scientists have being saying that the burning of fossil fuels increases greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, which trap heat and change the planet’s climate in many ways.
7.In another blow to Pruitt, major car manufacturer Ford came out against his pending rollback of clean car standards in a Medium op-ed.
Ford: A Measure of Progress
We support increasing clean car standards through 2025 and are not asking for a rollback. We want one set of standards nationally, along with additional flexibility to help us provide more affordable options for our customers. We believe that working together with EPA, NHTSA and California, we can deliver on this standard.
8.One final note on policy — a year after Pruitt continued to allow the use of chlorpyrifos, a hazardous pesticide that threatens farmworkers and their families, we’ve learned that the EPA may have altered notes to downplay their harm.
ThinkProgress: EPA reportedly ‘distorted’ meeting notes and workers could be more vulnerable to pesticide exposure
In November 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency met with several groups representing farmworkers to talk about three provisions of the worker protection rules to make farming safer. Organizers walked away feeling like there was some consensus between the groups, even though there was more work to be done on these issues.
But when the EPA made their two-day meeting notes public and summarized its notes to Sen. Tom Udall’s (D-NM) office a month later, organizers noticed major discrepancies and inaccuracies between their notes and those made by the agency.
9.As the list of reasons Scott Pruitt is unfit to run the agency charged with protecting our environment and public health continued to grow, progressive and environmental groups joined together this week to launch the Boot Pruitt campaign and call for his immediate exit. Read more about the campaign, and LCV’s projection on the EPA headquarters:
E&E News: Greens Push Pruitt to Quit in Big Letters
ABC News: Environmental Groups Launch Ads on Fox & Friends to “Boot Pruitt”
Mother Jones: Scott Pruitt’s “Dirty Dealings” Stir a Campaign to Oust Him From the EPA
