The Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) Administrator Scott Pruitt ’s total disdain for environmentalism is n’t exactly a secret . Remember , he ’s a stridentclimate alteration denierand he expend years as the Oklahoma attorney general working with fogy fuel representativesto challengeObama - era environmental statute law . Now , even as he lead an agency design to protect the surround – it ’s in the title – he seems to be stress his darndest to do the opposite , whether that ’s by vacate theClean Power Actor removingtax creditson renewables .
So while it might not be all that surprising , it ’s still shocking to see the routine of meetings he ’s held with fogey fuel executives compare to those he ’s had with environmental groups . The316 - Sir Frederick Handley Page calendar , made public at the request of the nonprofit American Oversight , let out back - to - back meeting with industry leaders , high - closing dinners with energy lobbyists , andpricey flightsto his dwelling house State Department of Oklahoma .
It should be noted that Pruitt is thefirst EPA Administratorin decades to refuse to publicly post his appointments calendar . He is notoriously secretive about his activities – he ’s had his ownsoundproof boothinstalled and , according toreports , he avoids communicate via write email . This written document – detail Pruit ’s agenda between February and August , disclose who he fulfill and when and where they met during that timeframe – might help explain why .
TheNew York Timesdescribes one particular sidereal day ( April 26 ) when the EPA Administrator lunch with top EXEC from a big ember - burn electric utility , dined with the board of manager of a vast coal mining company ( at a steakhouse in Trump ’s International Hotel in Washington , no less ) , and spoke to representative from General Motors about their petition to reverse a regulation introduced under the previous disposal to help thin fossil fuel emissions . harmonize tothe Times , this was only " a distinctive day " for Pruitt .
Journalists atCNNhave done some calculations of their own , influence out how many meetings Pruitt has held with individuals from different manufacture .
" A recently public transcript of his agenda reveals that he has held more than 100 coming together with industry repp between April and former September . That make up roughly 25 percentage of all his meeting . In comparing , he has meet with environmental groups and scientists for a grand total of five times . That makes up around 1 percentage of all meetings,“CNNreports .
" He ’s match with representatives of oil , accelerator pedal , electric , biofuel and other such caller almost 35 times . The next most pencil - in groups is ( sic ) farmers , rancher , and agriculturalists . The top two are followed by manufacture , excavation and finally environmentalists . "
In response to these criticisms , an EPA spokesperson has say : “ As E.P.A. has been the notice child for regulatory overreach , the agency is now meeting with those discount by the Obama governing body . ”
But , according to departmental stave , there ’s an atmosphere of paranoia in the agency . " [ E]mployees feel like there ’s been a hostile takeover and the guy rope in charge is deal them like enemies , ” Christopher Sellers , an expert in environmental chronicle at Stony Brook University who before this class supervise an consultation survey with 40 EPA staffer , toldThe Times .
