Why did Mr. Pruitt schedule a meeting (April 12) with Tony Perkins, Director of the Family Research Council, "for a small group of key business leaders around the country who are very excited about Administrator Pruitt's new leadership."
Mr. Perkins has *no* environmental expertise, and his Family Research Council has long been primarily involved with anti-gay and anti-abortion matters.
That suggests that Mr. Perkins is involved far outside of his professional expertise scope, and that Mr. Pruitt is engaged with matters perhaps far beyond his own agency's scope (EPA), on the government dime.
16
Aside from the risk of tweeting our way into the destruction of Seoul and a nuclear exchange, Pruitt is the most dangerous member of the Trump team, and over the long term the worst. While we talk about Trump possibly being leveraged by financial stakeholders with an adversarial agenda to Trump's office, Pruitt brazenly meets daily with contributors antithetical to his office's purpose. Worst of all, Trump being removed from office won't get Pruitt out as well.
10
Trump and his Cabinet Secretaries serve the forces of greed and evil. They are without merit, and do nothing to improve our nation or planet. Godspeed to those who may have power to remove them.
15
Yes lighting speed
3
Scott Pruitt: as unqualified to be a cabinet member as his boss is to be president.
10
Thank you NYTimes for keeping us informed of this dispicable man and his associations with polluters. As hard as it is to read it, as mad as it gets me to know, it's imperative for us all to be aware of what the worst cabinet member in a host of bad guys, is up to.
13
What do you do when the swamp has become a sewer?
11
Not at all surprised. Trump's swamp is full of this. Trump sought the presidentency to fulfill his own ego, pockets and to benefit his own payroll, to pay off all the debt he consistently accrues. He is a con man and always has been so of course he will align himself with similar people. And those that come on board to work with Trump are as ignorant as trump. Consider the constant turnover in our White House, now the dog house. Price, now Pruitt is just one iota of the fraud that is around us.
6
The Apprentice’s coterie of appointees continues to thin as their individual level of corruption starts becoming apparent with time. Trump is delivering his garbage to us as responsible appointees who are not to be trusted in the public domain.
2
Well I guess we're all satisfied that the "class warfare" thing is over. The billionaires own America lock, stock and bottom of the barrel. This particular case of political filth, Pruitt, is the poster child for Bannon's destruction of the "administrative state". Hey Oklahoma, don't worry about those earthquakes. They're good for business, the heartless, soulless state.
9
The well-fed fox in the hen house. On the times website the article next to this is about the algae bloom in Lake Erie. I'm sure even the dim-witted Mr. Pruitt would note the alignment.
9
Just the opposite of the Obama Administration.
2
This is criminal, nothing less.
3
Any chance Pruitt spent any time at all finding out about water quality in Flint, MI. I wonder if he even knows about Flint's catastrophic and deadly poisonous water.
5
Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke and the new head of the Veteran's Administration, have all been sticking it to the American taxpayers traveling like they are high rollers or CEO's of Billion dollar private industries; they don't seem to understand what public service is all about.....they all need to be fired.
8
And FYI, it is happening at Interior too. Secret meetings with industry officials. Mr. Lipton and Ms. Friedman ought to look into it.
5
What's surprising about this? He is and always be an industry shill and toady. He has no independent mind only to get what he can get. He should be in the rubbish can with Price and the others.
My thoughts and prayers are with the USA and the planet Earth knowing that he is in a position to do even more damage than he has already done and will continue to do and profit from it. My warmest disparagement to him personally for putting industry interests before the interests of the people of the USA who hewas "selected" to serve.
5
Gina McCarthy spent a significant part of her time meeting with environmental groups? She (and Pruitt) directed the ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY. They don’t lead the Department of Commerce.
3
A fair society would have this man in prison. He is beyond rehabilitation while the world both burns and drowns. If there is a history to write, we are witnessing an architect of mass death, toiling away 30 minutes at a time.
7
The whole of Trump’s administration is populated by malefactors topped by the big scalawag himself, the Apprentice. Bite down. We will survive.
2
As head of EPA, Scott Pruitt is living his long held dream of flooding the US with all the pollution he can. Never mind that at sometime in the future (near or far)
a person or place that he holds dear will be affected by the dismantling of the EPA. Of all DJT appointments, Pruitt to me is the most destructive to the land we know of as America.
5
Agreed.
2
No mention of a fracking lobby trying to uplift restrictions after it was determined that it was the cause of numerous earthquakes. I thought that would be a priority for that industry and Pruitt to really "shake things up" again in Oklahoma.
6
No wonder Pruitt has requested a cone of silence for his office at EPA. He wants no one to learn about the terrible things he is doing.
This is another disgrace in an administration filled with contemptible, incompetent and corrupt officials.
Who knew we would yearn for the days of honest, vigilant public administration seen in the GW Bush era?
6
Living like the ONE Percent, on our money. Lock him up, now. The First Family of Grifters is bankrupting us, enough. Seriously.
8
Used to be limits or bans on gratuities for government employees- Do they not still exist or appointees not covered. Just read OGE info- ban includes meals....love to see receipts that Pruitt paid for his own meals. Then again would like to see EPA named changed to what Pruitt is doing--EDA or environmental destruction agency
3
I'm pretty sure that the Trump Administration will set many records for the breadth and depth of the corruption that we KNOW ABOUT. It makes me wonder how much we don't know about...
4
Pruitt is pro-industry, so his meetings with heads of industry are expected. He will also read more of their reports, and ask for staff analysis of more of their proposals. Of course what matters is that he will enact more provisions favorable to them. But I expect to read that his address book is mostly filled with heads of industry. How about we report the news and leave the biases of Pruitt to the editorial pages?
A few comments on one issue mentioned in the article.
1. Our tax dollars fund an EPA study into the pesticide chlorpyrifos
2. The study concludes that the pesticide causes developmental disabilities, especially in farmworkers' children
3. EPA scientists (salaries from our tax dollars) recommend that chlorpyrifos be banned by the EPA
4. Scott Pruitt (salary also from our tax dollars) ignores the advice of the scientists, allowing its continued use
5. Legal appeals to have EPA follow the recommendations of its own study and scientists are unsuccessful*
This is good news for Dow Chemical, but is certainly bad news for farmworkers, their children, taxpayers, and anyone who values government efficiency/effectiveness. It's also terrible news for any shred of soul that might be left within Mr. Pruitt.
Thank you for this article, but please publish more exposés about what is going on at all levels of this administration. Your national reporting (rightly) cites past statements and actions by Trump to hold him accountable. We also need to know in greater detail what the people working for him are doing/wreaking.
*Trump appointee Jeffery H. Wood at the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division upheld and defended Pruitt's refusal to ban chlorpyrifos. Prior to his appointment and his new job under Jeff Sessions, Wood was a lobbyist for the coal industry, and served as legal counsel to then-Senator Sessions. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
6
This is what you get when self interest is more important than the preservation of our planet. But what does Pruitt, Trump, McConnell care, they are old men that are closer to the end rather than being young and having the rest of their lives in front of them. Pruitt, Trump, and the rest are all self enriching people that don't care one iota about their grandchildren, or the citizens that they will leave behind on the planet that they will help to kill. VOTE THEM OUT.
3
While the master of distraction keeps us looking at his latest inane Tweet, the cabinet members and agency heads do their best to foul up our environment, our schools, and our system of justice.
Elections have consequences. And after the foul 2016 election the consequences are rotten.
The will be no shortage of things for the next Democratic administration and Congress to try to fix.
2
'Having meetings'? Or more like getting his instructions?
Flying out for a one hour meeting on Friday? Haven't they ever heard of skype in the EPA?
The EPA is calling itself a 'poster child for regulatory overreach' and is concerned about chemical lobbying groups, Shell Oil Company and Southern Company feeling 'ignored'? How is that a concern for the EPA?
The head of the EPA is meeting Christian faith groups?
What's most unbelievable is that American governance structures are so wide open to abuse, corruption and control by shadowy unelected figures and commercial interests.
2
I think Scott Pruitt is derelict in his duties to faithfully strive to accomplish the mission of the EPA.
Mission statement of the EPA:
The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.
EPA's purpose is to ensure that:
– all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work;
–national efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on the best available scientific information;
–federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and effectively;
–environmental protection is an integral consideration in U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy;
–all parts of society -- communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal governments -- have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks;
–environmental protection contributes to making our communities and ecosystems diverse, sustainable and economically productive; and
–the United States plays a leadership role in working with other nations to protect the global environment.
To accomplish this mission, we:
Develop and enforce regulations
Clicking on the link, "You can also view EPA's priorities" takes you to a page that no longer exists.
2
Zinke, too.
Zinke has created a new Royalty Policy Committee which is packed with companies and trade groups that will benefit from his already-weakened royalty rules. The committee holds its first meeting on Wednesday.
Another violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
2
“My sense is there is almost nothing about this administration that is traditional,” Mr. Reilly said."
That should have said "“My sense is everything about this administration is criminal”
Pruitt is a criminal and ought to be treated like one, just like his boss, the Clown.
11
Absolutely torn by this. Southern Company is one of my core investments. So glad to see the EPA Administrator protecting my dividend. On the other hand, I really like breathing. And I have grandchildren to whom I would like to bequeath a decent environment. So, in a conflict here. Upon reflection, I opt to give my grandchildren a decent world, and to continue breathing as long as possible. Pruitt flunks stewardship, even for this capitalist.
3
Scott Pruitt thinks the EPA is just another case of government overreach. Worse, he doesn't seem to believe in protecting the environment, especially if it conflicts with industry supporters who have contributed to him personally and to conservative organizations in which he has a stake.
Perhaps even worse is his apparent appointment of non-scientists to scientific positions and his belief, encouraged by vested interests, that climate change (in the form of AGW) is doubtful or insignificant.
So we have someone who tries to ignore science to further his policy goals, which the same anti-environment objectives he had as AG suing the EPA multiple times, tasked to protect our environment and by extension our health.
Yes, there should be bias in the EPA: protecting and preserving our environment. Holding extensive meetings and supporting those whose interests conflict with the EPA's mission is IMO textbook corruption.
6
We now have an EPA in name only. His goal is to destroy the functionality of the Department from within. Unfortunately, he is succeeding.
6
one more self serving trump sycophant
are you surprised?
6
Dear Scott,
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
You in?
- Regulated Industry
7
Another one of Trump's Finest, doing his best to line his pockets, fleece Americans, undo any progress made for our children where protecting their environment is concerned all while paving the way for his entitled ilk to take even more of our country's resources and shit on our health. Way to go, Pruitt. Your children must be really proud of you. The thing is, their lungs, skin, organs, are made of the same material as us lesser being's. Good luck trying to wiggle out of disaster you're in the process of making; you will suffer the consequences along with the rest of us. I do take some consolation in that. Drain the Swamp indeed. Seems Trump is filling it with some of the most toxic creatures Washington has to offer.
9
Sounds like "business as usual." Gina McCarthy met frequently with organizations that agreed with her and Pruitt meets with organizations that agree with him. That's normal and understandable: there's not much point (other than atmospherics) for meeting with people you don't agree with. Regulatory agencies do not make decisions based on some sort of mythical "neutral independent analysis": they make decisions based on the political and philosophical predisposition of the decision-makers who then find a legally sustainable rationale for the decision. Sorry, but that's part of "democracy."
You do know what the “P” in EPA stands for, right?
2
Who needs a clean environment when you're going to be Raptured?
16
Mr. Pruitt, how much money do you want? Just tell us. What will it take to keep you from carrying out all the damaging policies your owners are paying you to enact?
15
I will happily make a contribution to the fund that will make Pruitt go away.
alas, I wouldn't give you 2 cents for Pence.
2
I guess the only way to get the attention of the Trump Administration fraudulent fiends is to hit them in the only place that matters to them- in the wallet. Sue them up and down. Tie their money up in fifty different lawsuits. There will be a lot of small contributions to that. Keep Pruitt so busy he doesn't have time to do half of the damage he is now doing to our country. Make him such a bad deal that his deep pocketed supporters know that even if they pay all his lawyer's fees it will be money down the drain because there will be another fifty lawsuits coming right down the pike.
10
The most blatantly corrupt "administration" in history...
29
Please keep Pruitt on the front pages for his taxpayer rip-off flights home. Mr. Trump won't get rid of him for the right reason (toadying to fossil fuel company goons to help them kill the planet), but he will get rid of anybody who takes up more print space or broadcast minutes. In fact, Pruitt, if the television networks pick this up and run with it, may already be on his way out. Better nobody in charge of the EPA than Pruitt.
22
I am nauseated by this administration and Pruitt is among the worst of all. The "Protection" in "EPA" means nothing to him. And I am sure that after his destruction of the agency is over, he will be laughing all the way to the bank.
18
One of the many crocodiles in the Trump swamp so afraid of his own shadow he has to have round the clock protection. Who does he think is hunting crocodiles anyway.
8
Pruitt is acting the same as most of the Secretaries. He was put in place to destroy the agency he is in charge of. Same in Energy, HHS, State, etc. It all goes back to the head of the swamp, now enlarged to a complete cesspool. There is no reason to be surprised. It is just the latest attack on the US from within.
10
Pruitt is the best example Trump could have picked to show his disdain for America and Americans. The EPA was conceived to protect Americans from environmental dangers. Pruitt was chosen to destroy the EPA. Is this what Americans really want???
Trump said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and Americans would still vote for him. For all those who may die because of EPA regulation rollbacks under Trump......Consider yourself one of the victims of this administration. Surely people will get ill and die because of Pruitt's attempt to reduce environmental safeguards.
9
Sessions weaseled his way into trump's campaign&showed him the people to pick for his cabinet who were already working to undo democrcy;we already are an oligarchy because GOP get $$ from big corp.&then pass the legislation they want;Scalia did same with his twisted,self-righteous,pseudo religion spiel;all GOP claim pro-life yet continue with death penalty,prisons for profit,not taxing the wealthy so no money for health care,medicaid,CHIP,which corrupt GOP congress let lapse today;abortion&contraception panders to their base,its no one's business abortions or birth control;God did not ask any of these arrogant evangelicals for their help;it is a horrible truth that GOP hate social security since it was passed,the southern democrats spit on Johnson when he passed the Voting Rights Act&Medicare;big oil, big corp.,CIA hated Kennedys for being rich&helping the poor,southern republicans with many plotted Kennedy's death;Billy Graham called Kennedy night before he went to Dallas&begged him not to go because he knew what was planned;you don't believe King&Bobby Kennedy's murder were lone wolves? all part of wealthy GOP south to end Kennedy&King changing society;they couldn't keep murdering so started GOP news,hate radio,lying tv to indoctrinate delusional right wing;Kim Davis wouldn't issue same sex marriage licenses has KY county job that pays $80K,her mother had same,her son taking it next;she can cheat the system but won't issue marriage licenses;hypocrites all.
1
As a head of Environmental PROTECTION Agency, what has he's been doing since day 1 to PROTECT the environment? Of course I am being sarcastic!
After reading endless NYT articles of his evil doings to dismantle environmental rules and regulations, how can he stay in his position legally?
How can he sleep at night(while sleeping with the nation's biggest polluters)? Does he have any conscience as a human being? Out of all Trump's evil cabinet appointees, this one takes the cake.
Our future generations' health will be jeopardized. Big time.
9
they absolutely LOVED him In OK,especially Devon Energy
1
pruitt is destroying the nature part of our country with his idiotic opinions. once again the gop elected trump who invited this loser to look after our country..... I hope the GOP is seeing where this is leading to .. a DEFEAT in ALL elections - the congressmen from middle america who are the reason for all this misery in our country need to flushed down with their idiotic potus
5
Ah...the sheer genius of Trump voters!
6
E.P.A. officials defended Mr. Pruitt’s industry-heavy appointment book.
“As E.P.A. has been the poster child for regulatory overreach, the agency is now meeting with those ignored by the Obama administration,” an emailed statement from the agency said, adding that the agency believed that The New York Times was making an “attempt to sensationalize for clicks” the administrator’s detailed calendar.
The EPA had these companies in their sights. That is why they are regulated. To suggest that they were ignored is a total fabrication and attempt to create a misdirection narrative. What else can we expect from these swamp dwellers?
4
Probably the worst cabinet member of the worst cabinet in history!!
7
Mr. Pruitt has joined the Trump cabinet where the lifestyles of the rich and famous rule the day. I would not be surprised if an investigation of his stock portfolio and trades were to show a surprising amount of insider knowledge.
This is the price the cabinet members must pay for the privilege of serving the master Grifter - In - Chief. Trump does not care, only if they get caught.
So let's just cut to the chase and have Mrs. Mnuchin post a daily blog about the travels, fine dining, fashion and other sundry delights of the 'Champagne Cabinet".
6
Pigs are at the trough...
Thanks to the atavistic electoral college, this is what America apparently wanted, this is what America apparently asked for, insisted on.
Pruitt should never have been Attorney General of Oklahoma much leading the EPA. If you want to see how not to treat the environment, run a state, formulate a tax codes, have functioning regulatory oversight or effective educational system look no further than Oklahoma. Republicans are now doing in America what they have been doing in Republican majority states for a generation.
None of this should surprise anyone; vox populi
3
Nu, so where's the news?
Environmentalists, et al. are NOT Pruitt's constituency. The extraction industry is and he serves them well.
2
Pruitt's actions are not unusual. I worked for the government in Houston and it was clear that our objective was to protect industry from the people. Pruitt is just making it clear whose side he is on, and he does it by wining and dining.
4
Corporations have taken over Washington it is as simple as that.
3
We need to rename the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to the FFPA (Fossil Fuel Protection Agency). We need truth in our government.
3
It is very disheartening, to say the least, to recognize that the person in charge of our environment is systematically undermining efforts to protect it. While it is possible some of the environmental controls can be amended and/or relaxed in certain instances, for the head of the agency charged with guarding it, protecting it and CONSERVING it (these Trump people are, after all, supposed to be "conservatives") to work to undermine the purpose of the EPA itself is beyond comprehension. How have we arrived at a point where so many of the things that have made our country strong and prosperous over these many years are now being thrown into the trash?
2
The Clean Power Plan violates the Clean Air Act. The EPA under Obama was entitled to regulate greenhouse gases under the CAA, but was required to conform their plan to the law. They failed to do so.
Someone needs to remind Mr. Pruitt that he heads the Environmental PROTECTION Agency.
He's not doing his job and should be fired.
8
Pruitt is making a mockery of the EPA. He has no intention of protecting the environment.
Don't we, as the people he's supposed to be serving, have any recourse in having him removed from office for failure to do his job?
8
well, it is obvious to anyone paying any attention at all to the matter, that Mr. Pruitt is clearly on the side of industry...NOT on the side of environmental issues.....what else does one expect of Trump's picks?...it would seem that all of his picks to head up agencies have policies adversarial to the agencies which they are tasked to to lead.....
5
Meetings with environmental or public advocacy groups are not likely to be highly remunerative. Anything that isn't profitable isn't worth pursuing. Why is this even a topic? Next!
Why should we expect the wealthy, people-hating, industry-loving sycophants of the golden-domed man-child to listen to the average person, much less an environmental organization? Trump's sycophants are owned by power and money-hungry industries, in fact they are still, or were in the past, the owners, investors, and controllers of those industries, so why should they listen to anyone but themselves?
Elect someone like Trump and this is what you get. You should never have expected anything different.
Our country is headed to ruination. No one in this current government cares.
2
I wouldn't be so concerned about his meetings with anyone at all if it appeared he were engaging the attendants in the purpose of his office: protecting the environment. It's sounding more and more like the agency he leads should be re-named the CPPA. The Corporate Profits Protection Agency. Money wins, our environment loses. Shame, shame, shame
2
The only way to stop this is to mobilize consumers to boycott those companies which knowingly or ignorantly do harm to the environment in the process of producing or providing their goods and services.
4
Well it's okay if he represents the industries he is supposed to regulate. As long as he doesn't take private jets and mess up White House 'optics.'
1
How is this not a violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act?
3
Who is surprised by all of this? I certainly am not. Sad, infuriated, yes but not surprised.
2
Environmentalists and scientists are Scott Pruitt's enemies. They are smart and know too much and he doesn't want to learn. Besides they don't have the money to further his main interest in destroying our environment and getting rich while doing just that.
3
"The calendar of Scott Pruitt, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, shows fine dining with officials from companies he regulates but few meetings with environmentalists."
Well, of course it does. This is what Mr. Pruitt was put at EPA to do- find ways to make it less effective in protecting the environment. Who better to give him ideas, than his pals at the companies he "regulates"?
Regulates- Ha! That's a good one.
Scott Pruitt's record of snuggling up to the industries he's charged with regulating would be shocking if it weren't completely expected. So, it's merely disgusting.
Surely the price for his attention is higher than a few fancy meals, so I wonder which polluter will enjoy his valuable service full-time when his "public service" is completed?
2
The EPA simply does not exist at this time. Nothing Pruitt is doing has a thing to do with environmental protection. There has to be a "take care" clause case to get him removed because he's not executing faithfully the executive branch's requirement to enforce the laws passed by Congress. He is simply shutting the agency down and turning it over to the polluters he once kept company with. Until the end of this administration there is ZERO hope for environmental protection out of the EPA. The best we can hope for is that employees slow the agency to an utter crawl and leak damaging info at every turn. Eventually Pruitt's greed will get him ensnared in a corruption scandal.
4
Scott Pruitt, at any level, should never be paid by the federal government to do anything...especially head the EPA. Trump has done more to reek damage on our environment, our educational system and our legal system, with the appointments of Pruitt, DeVos and Sessions. It is truly horrifying watching these individuals do harm to our nation.
5
Elections have consequences and we are reaping what's been sown. Trump, with his juvenile tweets and incoherent speeches are the shiny objects, distracting us from the real damage his administration will inflict on this country and the world.
5
A cursory review of round trip flights from Reagan to OKC costs about $800. And that's if the flight leaves today. With advanced planning, surely it could cost less. Wouldn't it be nice if all government's employees (OUR employees) would fly just like 95% of us regular folks.
2
Pruitt is not the head of the EPA (environmental protection agency) instead he is the head of the EDA (environmental destruction agency). This is typical GOP. They are paid by the companies that pollute the most to oppose laws that prevent these companies from polluting. Pruitt still works for all those companies.
Mr. Pruitt thinks he is working for all listed polluting companies .
Does he know what EPA stands for ?
Does he know his salary and generous benefits are being paid by American tax payers ?
Mr. Pruitt works for us , we are his employers , to protect our environment , to provide all of us clean air and water our life depends on , for the future of American generations .
Did HE FORGET ???
2
Here I am proudly driving an American-made car (a Ford) like a total dupe.
The fact that Ford and GM met with Pruitt through the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, who likely promised them a rollback of emissions regulations, is all I need to know that this American car (my 3rd) will be my last when the lease is up. It's this lack of forward thinking, show us the money attitude that keeps us in dark ages.
3
Why was Mr. Pruitt picked for to Lead Our EPA when he has illustrated that he cares nothing for our Environment or how to regulate Pollution that negatively impacts our Land Soil Water and Air. Does he have any experience with such for it appears that he does not.
However, similar to Price he believes that he on a free ride to do whatever he wants but actually focus on his job learn his job and work for The Environment of Our Country. IS his Deal Making skills applicable or are they actually applied for Personal and Political Favors? It seems as if this last sentence rings quite true----his function in his mind is probably one of deal making for self and Political favors!
Yet Mr. Pruitt, how does Digging for Oil while destroying Our National Parks helping our Environment? Please do tell!
1
Please, NYT, don't continue to soften the portrayal of Pruitt's activities to make them sound as if they represent industrialists versus regulators. Who calls themselves a regulator anyway? Scientists? Engineers? Attorneys? Regulations are only a tool. Instead, be honest about what Pruitt is doing: meeting with POLLUTERS who have and will toxify the communities where we live and work in the name of their own wealth. And, he is not simply removing regulatory barriers, but is rapidly doing away all forms of PROTECTION for the environment in which we live.
3
When one is busy meeting with business people, one just doesn't have time for the public whom one is supposed to serve.
Apparently the "swamp" has many new enriched denizens, all appointed by Trump.
4
Regulations that flip on and off like a switch based on who sits in the Oval Office is no way to run a country nor a business. Corporations may well save money during the Trump Administration but they will have to spend much of their savings in regulatory compliance with a new president.
Is this how Republicans govern? They can't pass a bill, so the president jerks everyone around. Some deal.
3
One is not surprised. Whenever I read articles like this I wonder what Jill Stein and Bernie Sanders followers must be thinking. Does their virtue comfort them?
5
As with all Trump appointees, Pruitt is the worst possible person to be an advocate for the programs he is meant to protect. He is owned entirely by industry, has absolutely zero regard for the environment, and the impact that undoing regulations will have not just on the environment but on the health of Americans and citizens of the world. He is despicable. There is no other way to put it. And as others have said it is engaged and effective non-profits who will fight him, justifiably, every step of the way.
2
That's the face of a fanatic
Somewhere, out there is a very dark corner that will be Pruitt's undoing.
Something will come to light that even Trump can't ignore and that will be the end of Pruitt.
Time to start turning over all of Pruitt's rocks and see what crawls out.
11
Great, another Trumpian freeloader without regard for his position or responsibilities all while deregulating everything of value from a liberal point of view and to the detriment of conservative and liberal alike.
9
Indeed. No chance of legislation being passed to put this one behind bars, however. Did Nero fiddle while Rome burned? A metaphor for this sleazy administration. This Nero is lighting the match after having poured his favorite elixir, gasoline, on the planet.
4
Does this guy still have a job? I thought Trump was appointing billionaire men who already made their money through corrupt practices so we wouldn't have to worry about government corruption (Trump logic). But, instead - we have ourselves a bunch of dime story burglars who are taking the American taxpayer for a ride (not on the private jets), by milking us so they don't have to spend down their own private luxury budgets. Really, Trump? This is it?
8
One rarely sees such a blatant example of being an industry puppet. In that small, but Exceedingly Corrupt Way, Pruitt has distinguished himself
8
He's also shut out his entire professional staff of scientists. He holds no meetings at all with the career professionals.
But this shouldn't surprise anyone as he is doing exactly what he was chosen to do. He can meet all he wants with coal companies but the market is not coming back. Clean power will eventually be driven by market forces alone and a bought and paid for Oklahoma political hack will not be able to do anything about it.
In the meantime, just like every other Trump appointee, he will gorge himself at the public trough for as long as he can. They are making third world dictatorships look benign by comparison, like rank amateurs. Quite possibly the least qualified, most corrupt cabinet ever assembled. The sum is even more disgusting than the parts.
10
How is this different that the calendar of any other Trump cabinet official? They all are beholden to special interests with money and ignore the average citizen and our opinions.
Please publish the calendar of each one of them starting with Mr. Zinke.
7
Q: What does the abbreviation E.P.A. stand for?
A: Environmental PROFIT Agency.
Scott Pruitt and his industry buddies are going to destroy the habitable environment in the name of PROFIT.
Dinners at restaurants in Donald Trump's DC hotel?
The Trump Alligators have repopulated the DC Swamp.
5
Pruitt is just another of the long list of trumpsters who have signed on to the administration to enrich themselves and their friends. Drain the swamp? Nah, they just flooded it.
7
Surprised? One can only hope "another one bites the dust".
2
Politics as usual. Pay no attention to that the man behind the curtain.
1
Yes, Trump got his guy into this most important position, but the GOP let Pruitt slither thru the gate and then go went underground. Trump is one soulless, money mongering man, but let's not forget what the GOP is back and allowing to take place, and it s the destruction of the pillars of our government, along with the soul of OUR country. Don't forget to vote as it could save you and your children's lives.
5
NYT. You may want to reconsider how to communicate a little more effectively. You could have created a few simple charts to show time and meeting spent - with industry vs. environmental vs. lawmakers vs. internal agency. contrasted pruitt vs. prior EPA chief.
4
So Trump has changed his troubled mind once again.
Rather than "draining the Washington Swamp" as he boasted he would do, he has opted to stock it full of Piranha and all sorts of other hungry, greedy, cannibalistic preditors.
Special Prosecutor Mueller, our country, and the civilized world (what's left of it) are depending on you now more than ever.
5
What in this article is surprissing? Based on Mr Pruitt's history I would be shocked if he met with enviironmental groups. This is what America Voted for!
GOP's definition of environmental protection: ....protecting the business environment for profits....and while you're at it, enjoy it as much as you can via the taxpayer.
2
Sounds like the next investigative reporting would be that of "follow the money." How rich is he getting? How rich his polluting golf buddies? Time to boycott and divest from these corporations. I mean, allowing back the more poisonous insecticides such that workers fall sick in the fields and their children inherit developmental disorders? And they are calling themselves Christians?
3
He’s living off the fat of the land, working on his next job since everyone knows that Trump appointees don’t last long in their current positions.
As AG, Pruitt helped bankrupt Oklahoma, decimated other state govt depts to build up his own. He is an out and out crook who will stop at nothing to build himself up and bring down America.
6
Environmental destruction agency head Pruitt will be responsible for far more deaths of American citizens than the crazed shooter in Las Vegas, and his deadly agenda will be aided and abetted by the Republican Congress and Trump and Trump allies on the Supreme Court. Let's not mince words. What this man is doing is evil.
3
The fox is in control of the EPA hen-house. By willful pollution of our land and water, Pruitt is promoting American Carnage on an unprecedented scale. 25 million Americans suffer with one downside of particulate pollution, asthma. And many other ailments are linked to pollution, including Alzheimer's. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/brain-pollution-evidence-builds-d...
Yes, we are upset by the gun inflicted Carnage in Las Vegas, but Pruitt's dastardly work will harm far, far more in an insidious but still profoundly damaging way. And it may take the EPA decades to recover from his purge of scientists. Pruitt must be contained. In spite of his extremely secretive maneuvering, his every move must be scrutinized, and every legal means used to limit his plan to allow corporate interests to rape and pillage our land.
6
The one to blame is Trump and the Republican Senators. Scott Pruitt has spent his life obstructing the EPA in return for money from corporations. That is why they selected him. Trump even signed an order instructing Scott Pruitt to shutdown the EPA and it's regulations. Jail Trump Now!
7
This guy is the absolute last person to be picked to lead the EPA.
It is all about money for him, period...
No wonder likes him. I assume a long legal battle could lead to his ouster for some ethics violation.....before he burns the country to the ground
4
Why are these people so intent on destroying our planet? They have to live here too. They have families, children and grand children. what kind of world are they going to leave for them? How much money do they need? Will this money help them when the oceans engulf the land? Is money all they care about?
6
I cannot cease comparing Trump's cabinet to Nixon's CREEPs in 1972, the infamous Committee to Re-Elect the President, many of whom went on to cabinet positions in Nixon's (abbreviated) second term. Tom Price, Scott Pruitt, Rick Perry, Steven Mnuchin, name your man or woman (let's not forget Betsy DeVos) certainly give me the creeps. Ick!
4
Pruitt now heads the Environmental Pollution Agency. Enough said.
2
Turning the EPA into the EDA, one expense account lunch at a time. Anyway, Pruitt is using this office to become the next Rick Santorum. Another GOP ideologue making a good living off of bad ideas.
1
Oh my God, Pruitt actually met with someone with knowledge and expertise in the respective industries to look at easing the regulatory OVER REACH in the industry, and ease the burden on farmers and companies. THE HORROR or it all, and when everyone is walking around with life jackets because the oceans are rising, and the climate is changing for the first time ever. The world is doomed, the world is doomed. And to think he met at a restaurant with white linen table cloth, he must be a racist also.
There is no bottom to this; there is no bar that can't be set lower
3
Sounds to me like conflict of interest....
1
There's absolutely nothing wrong with putting corporate earnings ahead of environmental safety. Minamata Bay, Japan was nothing but false news!
http://factsanddetails.com/media/2/20090818-Yokohama%20City%20%20william...
Of course he is looking for the money - he is an El Trumpo appointee what else would he do - being appointed is a pay day.
2
Well no wonder he seems to feel the need for a red team - blue team "debate"... he's only been hearing from the red team over dinner. Maybe he should plan for blue lunches and then red dinners (with matching tie colors of course).
But perhaps it's still too soon after the trifecta last month and the poor dear hesitates lest he appear insensitive.
I am curious how many commenters think that Pruitt is Trump's Heydrich,
planner extraordinaire for the Wannsee Conference in early 1942. This
guy is thoroughly committed ideologically to massive die offs, is completely and cynically indifferent to it happening, and is a top notch administrator more than capable of effectively organizing the bureaucratic machinery needed to realize such deranged lunacy.
1
This administration is full of corruption. It seems that many of its top executives are actively stealing from the taxpayers for little trips and such. (You know, hundreds of thousands of unnecessary dollars spent for personal desires.)
Pruitt is and always has been an opponent of protecting the environment. He is also into the "ruin the Obama legacy" meme as deeply as possible. Can't have anyone thinking the black president wanted his grandchildren to have a place to live that has clean air and water. Or anyone's grandchildren, I guess...
These unprincipled people have no scruples about ruining the country in the eyes of its average citizens and in the eyes of the world. They are out for their own gain. For the first time in many decades, we have a president and cabinet that is actively seeking to enrich their lives and pockets at taxpayer expense.
Unpardonable.
4
Scott Pruitt is a sick man. He has turned the EPA into an armed camp. He runs the agency like a tinpot dictator, and is incredibly paranoid. Erecting a soundproof booth in his own office to protect him from "spying" verges on insanity.
And then there is the fact that he is serving as a tool for industrial polluters and the fossil fuel industry. Of all the appointees in the Trump administration, Pruitt is doing the most damage to our country. His craziness is only the icing on the cake.
My 96-year-old mother in Oklahoma in a recent phone call rattled off a litany of off-the-wall actions and behaviors he exhibited when he was just a State official. Even though Oklahoma is dependent on the oil industry, everyone knew how deranged Pruitt was.
His choice by Trump was indeed truly inspired--inspired by the Koch Brothers and their ilk, that is.
7
He cannot provide a rational science based justification for any of his positions. You neglected to mention his paranoia and how he tries to do almost everything in his office in DC in secret.
3
Trump is indeed 'draining' the swamp....trouble is, it's discharging right into the Trump Cabinet.
2
but Hilary! you remember, Bill's charitable foundation took money from Nobel Prize winners. so bad. so very bad.
and emails!
2
Why am I not shocked?
Does Scott Pruitt aware of massive algae growing in Lake Erie? Most likely not.
3
I wish Mr Pruitt also was fired. He's a menace to human health, rather humanity.
7
Wait for it!
2
Drain the swamp!
Feed the swamp anew!
3
Anybody bother to tell this fool he's supposed to hold the nation's environmental resources above corporate interests? Like everything else in the Trump White House, we wind up with the north end of a south bound pig.
7
Unlike Nero, Mr Pruitt is fiddling while our world burns.
1
He should meet with Jill Stein voters in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania and the Bernie Bro's who sat out the election, to thank them for helping put him in office.
3
Please don't tell me that anyone is surprised by finally letting the fox into the hen house. All the sueing and pursuing he did in OK is really not OK but he can't be expected to cut off his benefactors just because he has to take care of 323 Americans instead of 3.924 million Okies.
2
I forgot to add the bald headed creep from Equifax to the flogging. Really the list of corporates thrives could go on and on.
2
These Trump cabinet members are as ignorant of their responsibilities as they are shameless.
From Education to the Environment to Energy they make choices that aid only their cronies and insure that they will be highly paid consultants when they are Trump-tweeted out of his White House - if they can stay out of prison.
6
Pruitt is just another swamp dweller. Who knew that when Trump said he was going to drain the swamp, the swamp was about the administration he created.
2
If the EPA is the henhouse, Scott Pruitt is the fox.
He was put in charge to dismantle the EPA and its governmental mission
to assist the United States in lowering carbon and other emissions that
are destroying our atmosphere.
He is as disastrous to the EPA and the world as is his leader in the White House.
POTUS however is simply an ignorant person. Pruitt thinks he knows better than scientists and governments around the world. Unbelievable arrogance and vested self-interest pushes him to work so "hard".
4
The environment that Scott Pruitt wants to protect is that in the corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarch suites. Being servile to their whims as their primary federal puppet dummy is his prime directive. Pruitt has no faith in science but loves the supernatural evangelical and heathen hedonist pagan money.
Who knew?
3
making America great again by scuttling it, bain capital style.....thank you my hateful fearful fellow americans, thank you very little for electing this monstrosity over continuing our progress....
disgrazia!
In a cabinet made up of swamp creatures, Scott Pruitt is the biggest crocodile.
Crook, crony, fat cat, entitled. Oh, yes, and just following orders from Herr Trump. When he's tossed out like Tom Price, let's see how he fares.
Another GOP pig at the trough.
But isn't this what the majority of states elected Dotard Trump to do?
I understand he is an officer in his evangelical church. Hmmmm...
Trump has let the fox into the hen house.
All the henhouses have foxes in them and the crocodiles are running the swamp
We lost Tom Petty and still have Scott Pruitt.
I'd swap that outcome.
2
It should be obvious to anyone with eyes that Mr Pruitt is having job interviews. He won't be around forever and a guy's got to look ahead. Meanwhile …
1
Mr Pruit should be allowed to OK for consumption only pesticides used on food that he serves his family.
It is so easy to have a visceral hatred for republicans - and it is most likely very rational.
Under now Sec. of the EPA Scott Pruitt, the "A" he stands for is Environmental Protection ASSASSIN...!
One thing people can do to oppose Pruitt is to call their senators and tell them to vote against chemical stooge Michael Dourson as the next head of the EPA's chemical safety division.
3
He's an alligator. He's not going to drain the swamp. The monitization of America's common resources will be accelerated.
Pruitt is a shill for the fossil fuel and chemical industries. His strategy is to destroy the EPA from within. He denies climate change and would condemn future generations to a life filled with toxins and violent weather. He has devoted his life to supporting those who bespoil the planet. Maybe if his grandkids lived next to a coal-fired power plant or a sludge pond he might see the light, but I doubt it.
2
Pruitt is an absolute disgrace, and an ugly insult to America. If we had a decent and "real" President, he would be fired. As it is, he is just one more pig around the trough. No wonder why he requires, and gets, 24/7 armed security - the first EPA Director to ever request, and have, such "protection".
What a foul creep this "man" is. A healthy Planet Earth is far more valuable than fine dining with Big Coal.
4
Isn't this what was expected from this gent?
And we expected anything less. His job is to destroy the EPA and make big buck for himself. The t-rump way. This is why t-rump made these picks. Just watch the trend of all of them. Emperors without cloths, all of them.
1
To Pruitt, all the titans of Industries and lobbyists. You are greedy, soulless pitiful creatures. Your lives must be truly void of what makes someone human. The path that you follow is one that will affect future generations, yours included. So here is a heads up, you will not live forever.
Here are of a couple of verses from a Johnny Cash's song called "God is going to cut you down", that gives testimony to that fact.
Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand
Working in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as God made black and white
What's done in the dark will be brought to the light
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
He knows whose dog he is.
Trump drained the swamp to fill it with toxic sludge. Disgusting.
Of course, this is a fox in the chicken coop. But my fellow Americans, by not voting for Clinton you made it happen. You'll have your chnace to atone in the House elections next year,
1
pruitt is the worst of the worst.
1
This man might be the most destructive single aspect of the Trump administration. I hope he gets cancer.
Surprise, surprise, this is the man who was handpicked to cripple and neuter the E.P.A. Pruitt would like nothing better than to be remembered as the guy that put environmental regulation in the toilet.
Too bad the Republicans who confirmed this sleazoid of a corporate tool were too visually impaired to see this coming. Welcome to the new USA, where we're rapidly regressing back to the good old days when there was no EPA and our air and waters were poisoned by the very sorts of bad actors he's brown-nosing. Only now we've got the full force of the government behind the retooled Polluter's Protection Agency. MAGA: Morons Are Governing America.
1
I hope the idiots who voted for Jill Stein, of the illustrious Green Party, are pleased at all the Positive Change (tm) they've effected.
1
Trump appointed Pruitt to transform the EPA into a brothel, and Pruitt is doing as he was told. And like any brothel, the EPA prefers that its customers have lots of money & lots of friends with lots of money.
This is what we voted for. Enjoy the dirt.
Why do you think Trump appointed Pruit.
He is doing exactly what Trump wants him to do, favor the fossil fuel industry and gut environmental regulations.
3
Obama era regulations added $122 billion of annual costs to our economy. No wonder the economy struggled to grow at a pace greater than 1.5% a year. The greater number of regulations, particularly the wasteful EPA regulations, that are eliminated, the faster our economy will grow and more jobs and higher wages will follow. Our environment is perfectly fine but our economy and standard of living is not.
Obviously written by some hired industry hack.
The economy under President Obama grew faster than any other time back to Clinton. Despite the economic wreck made by Bush and his trillion dollar useless war in Iraq, which devastated the economy and the deficit and is the reason why it took so long to get back to normal.
12
Hmmm and I thought we struggled from the fiscal malfeasance if Bush ?
You may have enjoyed the rivers which caught fire and water in which nothing lived we used to have but I did not and I would prefer not going back to it.
The companies Mr Pruitt is helping make hundreds of millions to billions in profit right now. I think the "growth" you refer to is the Wall Street numbers which have nothing to do with jobs as you imply. In fact they go up based on how much expense they can cut like not doing necessary and proper safety and environmental upgrades and laying off workers who did that work or kept operations safe.
Safety and environmental work creates thousands of jobs that pay wages the workers spend which employs even more people. So aside from the protection and improvement of our degraded environment they actually help people. Making as much money as possible on the bottom line does not help anyone who does not own the company. Since they make that money from OUR resources they should be required to spend some of it on creating jobs and protecting and maintaining OUR environment.
Even if one considers the few thousand people who own say Exxon stock. How is it rational that those few thousands get to make Billions off of us and OUR resources while we have the need for infrastructure improvement, school funding, healthcare funding, and so much more? It isn't. We have the right to take some of that money to use for our needs since it is after all OUR resources and OUR society that made the making of it possible.
It's sad to see the EPA become the Environmental Part-out Agency.
2
Apparently he thinks he's running the "Environmental Exploitation Agency."
4
After reading this article I am mystified as to how anyone with a conscience can continue to support this administration. I am totally disheartened.
8
Mr. Pruitt is a breath of fresh air for the EPA and the environment of the U.S. Effective long-term environmental progress only occurs with balanced regulations that take into account the needs & capabilities of the regulated community along with the overall goals/purposes of the entire country. All opinions and perspectives matter!
As stated deep in article the prior administration was so deeply one-sided and simply adopted the agendas of the so-called "Environmental Groups", not seeking any input from industry or Congress until well after proposed policies were far along.
The continuation of this intentional slander, politicalization, & polarizing on the environment by NYT & others is extremely harmful to and counterproductive to actually protecting the environment. Stop.
Put the focus instead on effective policies that cost-effectively & efficiently generate positive results with acceptance from all parties at the table!
Another fake comment provided by some industry hack apparently. I mean, who needs clean air and water? It's so much better when the EPA chief meets with industry for fancy dinners rather than do his job.
Can you imagine what these idiots would be saying if this had happened during the Obama administration?
6
Sorry, what does anything you said have to do with Pruitt's spending habits and extravagant use of tax payer's money?
2
Another apologist from MA? What's going on in Mass that you guys have to defend smog?
Given the lack of experience and competence of his cabinet, I would have expected no less. The fox is in the house, has the keys to the house, and is feasting on the chickens all the while espousing that they are making America great again.
7
this isn't about inexperience, it's the PLAN
I have a teenager. The environment is to his generation what civil rights was to mine. Pruitt needs to be contained, and the Democrats need to identify him as the poster boy for the Republican agenda in their voter registration efforts.
4
“As E.P.A. has been the poster child for regulatory overreach, the agency is now meeting with those ignored by the Obama administration,” Translation: The poor foxes have been ignored in favor of the chickens. Who in the world thinks that stuff up at EPA?
4
They say we get the government we deserve. We must prove we deserve better.
3
The swamp is full and thriving ... the 5-minute American attention span and incessant need to be entertained constantly is to blame (The Trump Administration couldn't get away with this if American voter engagement were more substantive).
1
So Pruitt dined with industry executives at BLT Prime which is inside the Trump International Hotel in Washington. This may be the worst thing this article reveals.
This means that administration officials are using their positions to patronize Trump's businesses.
That fact that Trump allows, if not encourages, this behavior from his administration should be construed as Trump's allowing, if not encouraging, bribery.
Bribery is an impeachable offense (Article 2, Section 4).
8
Thanks NYT - for your ongoing efforts to expose the facts of this (and any other) administration to the scrutiny of our citizens. Especially at times like these, a free and competent press bringing light to dark corners - is vital to the maintenance and rejuvenation of our democracy.
3
Excellent reporting. Let's not forget about Pruitt's 24/7 security and the "cone of silence" he has had installed in his EPA office, at taxpayer expense. He appears to have a lot to hide - thanks for shining a light on some of it.
3
I wrote this to my Senators and congressman:
Feel free to copy and use, in fact I sincerely wish you would! Pruitt is simply using his office as a lobbying firm. We can't allow this level of corruption of a federal agency.
Dear Senator:
Thank you for all the work you do standing up for the rights and needs of our citizens. I am writing to express my extreme concern regarding the EPA and its management under administrator Scott Pruitt. As a tax payer funded agency, its mission and purpose has now been grossly twisted into a private and extremely secretive lobbying firm for the oil, gas, and energy industries. This is an outright abuse of power and misuse of federal tax payer dollars. Please advise as to how Congress is addressing this extraordinary misuse of our tax dollars and advise how such gross corruption and mismanagement will be corrected?
5
This is an important piece, thanks to the Times & these two journalists for putting this together & surveilling the activities of sinister, secretive, radical anti-EPA extremist Scott Pruitt.
EPA publishes its "mission" statement:
https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/our-mission-and-what-we-do
"To accomplish this mission, we:
Develop and enforce regulations
When Congress writes an environmental law, we implement it by writing regulations. Often, we set national standards that states and tribes enforce through their own regulations. If they fail to meet the national standards, we can help them. We also enforce our regulations, and help companies understand the requirements. "
So, we are to assume that all of these meetings, paid for by we the People, are to 'help companies understand the requirements', and not to help companies dismantle those requirements, to the detriment of the public whose safety the EPA was designed to protect...
RIGHT?
So, let's now see the minutes & agendas & transcripts of all of these meetings of Mr. Pruitt's.
Meanwhile I will endeavor to follow the many links in this piece. It is the civic duty of the citizenry to try to keep abreast of what this man is doing to sacrifice public health & safety for the benefit of industrial polluters who are by definition diametrically opposed to protecting the public and the environment.
The countless remaining brownfields, superfund sites & pcb rivers of old will seem minor compared to modern industrial threats.
3
The whole cabinet has its own interests in mind. Pruitt, no doubt, is cultivating his retirement filled with extravagance. There can be no claim that Obama did not discuss environmental issues with large polluting companies; it's just that they did not want to hear what he had to say. The increase of jobs...at what human costs? I know that Pruitt does not cares what happens to families whose miners have black lung disease. Why should he? The GOP is clearly wanting to slash healthcare in favor of tax cuts for the top 1% and POTUS. This is the most shamefully obvious self-serving money-making cabinet and WH who pander to a POTUS who will become even richer off the backs of Americans. There is clearly no interest of the American public in any of their decisions.
2
I don't understand how attempting to destroy a government department, which is public property, is not illegal. How is it that there is no way of stopping a rogue administrator from destroying the EPA? Are there no laws against someone breaking with the public trust, breaking with the oath and mission of the department they've been put in charge of?
Why is dereliction of duty not a crime here? Why are there no laws to protect this nation from people acting in bad faith?
2
Enter Claude Rains at Rick's in Casablanca, noting how shocked, SHOCKED he is at what's going on.
This man's record and inevitable disposition could not have been more thoroughly and predictably known prior to his confirmation. The corruption here is that he was confirmed in the first place.
1
To summarize, if the head of an agency spends much of his time meeting with those we agree with, that's showing interest in the job. If he meets with those we disagree with, that's evidence of either prejudicial intent or corruption. Thanks for clearing that up, folks.
William Reilly is quoted as saying the current EPA is “not traditional”. That’s because corruption has not been a tradition at the EPA. But this administration is very willing to change traditions like public service and ethical behavior in favor of self-dealing and intentional deception.
When we get done with this - if we still have a country - I hope Scott Pruitt faces prosecution both in this country and internationally.
2
I think the Environmental Protection Administration needs a name change, as Pruitt is not working in the interests of protecting the environment. His obvious interest is in enabling the industry polluters that he is meant to oversee.
It’s obscene. What hath Trump wrought?
1
Pruitt is so invested in his kickbacks, lawsuits and underhanded deals that I'm NOT surprised he doesn't know what his job description is. EPA does not mean "Exploit, Profit, and Abuse" the environment, it means Environmental Protection Agency. Can someone send him the memo, please!
3
This is not an EPA director but a pro-industry director. He is not draining the swamp; he is filling it with more pollution.
1
Absolutely none of the Cabinet picks have any pro environmental, pro humanity agendas. It's all about reaping rewards upon the already over bestowed.
1
Yep. He certainly meets the one criterion for a Trump appointee--unfitness for the post.
2
In our so-called democracy this is to be expected. There's no soft-landing here either. Mr. Pruitt is here to bring it on quicker.... unfortunately.
1
This is the head of the Environmental PROTECTION Agency, and he's meeting with the heads of and lobbyists for the nation's most notorious POLLUTORS. As a group, Republicans see nothing wrong with this picture. In fact, it has their full endorsement.
Is this what they mean when they want see government run more like a business? A business like Enron, perhaps?
1
This is nothing new to those of us in Oklahoma. Pruitt was always a lapdog to oil and gas and Agribusiness interests. He did nothing in the realm of consumer protection, and let his predecessor's consumer initiatives die.
He is rumored to be eying a run for Governor, or running to replace soon-to-retire U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe. No doubt as he goes about his day bespoiling the environment he's supposed to be entrusted to protect, these meetings are great ways to line up campaign contributions and chits to call in when the time comes for Pruitt to continue to personally profit from the government service he and his kind so despise.
3
At what point does an expensive meal get counted as a gift? Is there an ethical limit to the size of gifts this man can accept?
1
That's because industry lobbyists take him to restaurants he likes better - they are richer and have the same taste as he does; he is one of them, after all, an industry operative, the reason he was appointed head of EPA.
1
It worked with the ACA. Pick. Up. The. Phone. Call your Congressman or Congresswoman and tell him or her that you want Scott Pruitt out because you want a healthier environment and that you want gun control. Enough calls and they'll get the message that they are supposed to work for you, not for lobbyists.
6
Done times four
1
In my opinion, Scott Pruitt is the most dangerous man in Washington. He is paranoid ($25k for "sound proof room" on tax-payer dime; multiple versions of his recommendations for National Monuments so no one, even within his compound, could leak information), bought and sold by the energy industry, and hell-bent on doing away with the EPA. Period.
8
Scott Pruitt doesn't give a crap about the environment!
7
Sure he does. He cares about every nickel that can be extracted from it.
"The E.P.A. leader also scheduled a call with the Family Research Council"
A good article but the above pretty much says it all about Mr Pruit's goals when he meets with notoriously anti-science anti-civil-rights groups.
13
This is why he needs an expensive SCIF ("Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility"): to hide his corrupt insider dealings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_Compartmented_Information_Facility
Nice work if you can get it: surely Al Capone would have liked governmented funded privacy for his criminal dealings. Pruitt has looked at what Mueller is doing and realized he doesn't want his communications investigated because they are utterly corrupt.
11
This guy is a loser just like his boss. Clean the swamp!
15
If Pruitt has his way, there won't be a fish, deer, bee, or tree left in our nation. The Grand Canyon will be fracked to shreds and the rest of our "protected" National Parks will be drilled into oblivion including the only pristine place left...the Arctic. He's already removing protections from endangered species. Our waterways are being filled up with coal sludge. Of all the horrible creatures that Trump has installed to ruin our nation, Pruitt is the worst because if we don't have an environment, we humans won't have any way to live. We can't live on fossil fuels!
135
This article gives the reasons which Scott Pruitt has more Secret Service protection than any other head of the EPA. Odd that this administration is more interested in protecting the administrator of the EPA than in protecting the environment.
Trump might be draining the swamp. What's left after "draining the swamp" is the pond scum. What is amazing is that so many of the pond scum identify themselves as "Christians". I'm not a Christian, but I am more Christ-like than they will ever be.
19
This is why the Robber Barons are trying to keep us "preoccupied" with mass shootings and other chaos-causing mafia tactics. Their operatives are busy destroying OUR government and the regulations meant to protect US from them.
WE THE PEOPLE have benefited from the regulations and social goods put in place by Teddy Roosevelt (public lands and trust buster), FDR/Elanor Roosevelt and other socially conscious lawmakers since. The Robber Barons are trying to destroy them all.
NOW is the time for every single American to step up and fight like hell to save the one thing they value most about OUR democracy because it is under attack from inside and out.
17
Pruitt is as much out of place at the EPA as Trump is at the WH...
13
GOP values making lazy money over making money with a clean environment. fox running the hen house. needs to be called out with more frequency and urgency. before we know it, we'll be back to smoggy, polluted air, polluted rivers, and toxins all around. Dems need to step up daily the message about the corrupt enterprise policy making of this administration and present a common sense plan.
10
'“I would think he would feel a responsibility to bend over backward to show a sense of judicious impartiality,” Mr. Reilly said.'
In their arrogance, this gang no longer even pretend to have a sense of impartiality. They are in the administration for two reasons: to enrich the already wealthy and to do so by dismantling "the administrative state", otherwise known as the government.
I am old enough to remember a river in Ohio that burst into flames, forests in the northeast defoliated by acid rain, holes in the ozone, coal ash on window sills in New York City, and smog in Las Angeles so thick that the citizens choked. Mr. Pruitt is undoubtedly aware of all that as well. He just doesn't give a damn.
21
Industry and more important industrial profits over people. We are spending billions in taxpayers money cleaning up the industrial mess of bygone days. You would think these deplorable people would have learned.
People over Profits is not a GOP agenda.
18
How to rip off the American citizens in 3 easy lessons: A. Have a crooked boss B. Meet only with oil executives, auto CEO's and gas personnel to see what they have to offer you. C. Be a Republican.
6
A lot of hand wringing in the comments. Besides giving to environmental groups and signing petitions is there anything else we can do? The EPA doesn't seem to have a comments line...
Petitions--the efficacy of which is non-existent. Yes, I think it's the environmental groups who are our line of defense right now. They know how to use the courts to block some of these criminal and poisonous actions of Pruitt and the other members of this administration. Petitions are self-congratulatory chest thumping which achieve very little.
Write to your senators and congressmen and pressure them to get rid of Pruitt. I wrote to mine.
Dear Senator ,
Thank you for all the work you do standing up for the rights and needs of our citizens. I am writing to express my extreme concern regarding the EPA and its management under administrator Scott Pruitt. As a tax payer funded agency, its mission and purpose has now been grossly twisted into a private and extremely secretive lobbying firm for the oil, gas, and energy industries. This is an outright abuse of power and misuse of federal tax payer dollars. Please advise as to how Congress is addressing this extraordinary misuse of our tax dollars and advise how such gross corruption and mismanagement will be corrected?
Drain the swamp? If hypocrisy was a rock, this country would have sunk beneath the waves under the weight of it by now.
It is ironic that democracy is supposed to give the power to the people and yet we are powerless to stop this. Money, gerrymandering, lies and corruption have robbed us of our ability to try to chart the course of our country and we just watch helpless as these creeps destroy it for personal gain.
10
But, we are not helpless.
FIGHT - ORGANIZE - VOTE
Fight for the future of this planet. Fight for air for your children and grandchildren. Fight for clean, drinkable water.
Find an Indivisible.org group. Collectively protest by contacting your elected representatives in congress. Call, write, text, email !! Tell them that you are aware of what Secretary Pruitt is doing to our country and the environment. Tell them to fight and stop him. Tell them that we are watching. Tell them that, if they do not stop this destruction, you will vote them out.
Together we are strong. We are not helpless.
Fight FOR America !
The spendthrifts in Washington are ramping up for more uplifting of the private for profit corporate polluters who are currently subsidized by tax payers.
I am voting for the first ethical politician who runs against this blatant thievery of public tax dollars and destruction of our shared environment with a sensible plan to encourage these barons to stand on their own two feet not ours.
8
While Pruitt and the Republicans are doing their best to destroy our environment, states are standing up to protect it. If left to this course, the blue states will be healthy places to live while the red states will be swamped in industrial waste and pollution. But isn't that the Republican agenda?
11
Alas, air and water and their pollutants don't recognize state boundaries or national orders.
Dear Mr. Pruitt,
The EPA is a regulatory agency formed to PROTECT the ENVIRONMENT. That's what the P and the A stand for in the name of the agency you are charged with running. You are tasked with enforcing federal laws Protecting the Environment.
Our environment. Yours and mine. This is not an Us versus Them task. It is only an US task. Please do your job.
Thanks in advance.
11
Thee EPA exists to protect our environment, not facilitate its destruction. The wrong man, in the wrong place.
12
It was firmly believed, and has now been confirmed, just who's corner Pruitt was going to side up to the moment of his nomination...his "reputation preceded him." Pruitt has no more desire to protect the environment than he has of flying to the moon without a spaceship.
8
I've never understood what is 'conservative' about venturing so aggressively into what they posit to be the unknown.
7
The blame really goes to the GOP-controlled Senate for approving Pruitt, whose outrageous behavior is, sadly, not at all unexpected. Putting this guy in charge of the EPA is an enormous insult to everyone working at that agency to protect the health of US citizens. Clearly, Pruitt knows the GOP isn't going to hold him to any reasonable ethical standards. What has become of the Republican party? How can any person of conscience continue to stand by them?
32
Why would the GOP have voted against his nomination? They share exactly the same values.
Secretary Pruitt was appointed to the job and confirmed by Congress for the singular purpose of reversing EPA regulations and withdrawal of the United States from most global environmental pacts. He is doing the job for which he was appointed and will be greatly enriched by passing through the revolving door when he leaves this position.
In the interim that he is Office, his actions need to be documented so that they can be reversed as soon as possible after this Administration is gone.
117
Harder done than said. With the removal of the regulation is a concurrent removal of the regulatory body. To get these people back will require rising taxes. Do you really think that all those people that voted for Trump because he was going to make them wealthy again by lowering taxes will agree to have their taxes increased? The master of the deal and con-man and chief, along with his Republican cronies, have cleverly made sure that the destruction they do will stay that way.
There were no new environmental laws passed by Congress since before Obama took office, even during 2009-2010 when he had a majority in both Houses or in 2011 through 2014 when he had a majority in the Senate.
During the Obama administration and accelerating during his second term, Obama ordered or allowed the EPA to create new regulations that were not authorized by Congress and in some cases [the Clean Power Plan in particular] illegal according to the law.
Actions by the executive absent legislative authority last only as long as the President remains in office. [Obama's autocratic rule using his "pen and cellphone" never became part of the law, and regulations issued by one President's diktat are immediately reversible by his successor.]
There is another wrinkle on all of this in that in addition to Trump redirecting resources to conform to the wishes of his electorate, Congress has jumped in under the Congressional Review Act and has invalidated huge classes of Obama created regulations. Once Congress has spoken, future Presidents cannot simply reverse the decision and reinstate the regulations.
Make as long a list as you want of actions you want reversed. You have to elect a Congress that will enshrine those policy decisions in law.
A Dem Congress refused to pass the laws that would have authorized Obama's regulations when they had the chance in 2009-2010. You are dreaming if you think a future Dem Congress would either.
Ladies and gentlemen, your EPA director who would rather not even have his position exist in the first place! Scott Pruitt deserves to be ousted in the most shameful and dishonorable way as possible. They all do. This administration has as much accountability as Trump himself has common decency.
19
As the seas rise, this man will live forever in infamy, after enjoying a few more decades as a millionaire lobbyist and corporate petro-mascot of course. A shameless wannabe oligarch private jetting around making political visits and cutting breaks to polluters, slashing at our protections for children and wildlife, and the whole planet. You bet he's got a sound proof booth on the way for his office. If we could hear what he's actually saying, he'd be run out of his position in a day. As shameful a specimen as they come. We can only hope that as charges are brought against 45, the cabinet trolls will begin to feel the ice cracking beneath their feet.
13
Foxes guarding henhouses all over the nation have ceded their metaphorical title. Henceforth, they will be termed Pruitts at the EPA.
8
I wonder if he wakes up in the mornings thinking, what can I do for me and my friends today?
6
Did anyone really expect anything different? Republicans, like Pruitt, have no interest in protecting natural resources for future generations like their own children and grandchildren.
5
Loathesome. More evidence that this administration is the most anti-consumer, anti-environment, anti-science in memory. Pruitt and Rick Perry are the least qualified idealogues ever to hold their critical positions. The door to the henhouse has been thrown wide open, and only one side gets to saunter in. They ain't vegans.
3
Talk about a swamp, a polluted one at that.
4
The worst bunch in history. The damage they will do will take decades to repair.
4
Is this really a surprise? It would be good if someone (the NYT?) talked about his philosophy and beliefs. Then we'd know what to expect.
What planet did you come from? Many, many people, MSM, yes, including the NYT, have been reporting the ideologies of this man. The MSM have had numerous articles and stories covering his lawsuits against the EPA as Attorney General of his State of Oklahoma.
Weren't you listening?
Pruitt is doing exactly what tRump-Bannon and their plutocrats desire. Money for the rich and powerful. Continued raping of the planet's resources and lining of the pockets of the corporations that do it. Please don't claim ignorance.
Stand up and do something about it. Organize - Vote
Contact your elected congressional representatives. Tell them that you do not want the Pruitt destruction of EPA regulations to continue. Call them, write them, email them, text them. Go to their offices and say it to their faces. Tell them that, if they fail, you will vote them out. We must fight for the only planet we have.
Look for your local Indivisible.org group. Organize together. Together, We are strong.
Fight FOR America ! Fight FOR Our Planet!!
Time to focus on these things that matter most, rather than Trump's tweet du jour. Time to focus too on putting this administration out of office. What a sham!
3
We wouldn't expect anything less from the thoroughly corrupt and incompetent Trump administration.
Pruitt is a joke who has done nothing but hurt the environment and take away our kids future by accelerating climate change with his irresponsible, immoral, and universally criminal actions. Pruitt will leave a dark legacy and he can then look forward to giving G-d a full accounting of his evil deeds when his time comes.
4
If there was a G-d this wouldn't be happening.
1
And yet . . . . the Republicans are okay with this.
There is not one person in this administration with a shred of integrity. NOT. ONE.
They are all grifters. And we, the American taxpayer, will pay for it now and we will pay for it later.
Hey! All you lazy people who couldn't be bothered to go to the polls and all you Bernie Bros who wouldn't vote for Hillary on your so-called principle (and, probably because you thought Trump couldn't win anyway) - HAPPY NOW?
12
Disgusting crawling toady pledged to help destroy our planet and way of life. Just because you cannot see the horns and hooves does not mean it is not what it is. It is worse. I'm sure the money-changers at the Presidential prayer meeting all give him high fives.
7
We knew Trump had put a fox in charge of the henhouse, but we didn't know Pruitt was as crooked as Trump
1
Pruitt is a yoyo for Wall Street...his agenda is to prosper when he leaves gov't service just like most "swamp people" do.
This guy Pruitt and Trump's race baiting are the two worst things about this administration.
1
Trump is FILLING the swamp.
3
The Swamp is overflowing!
2
with alligators..!!
What Donald Trump really meant when he talked about draining the swamp was filling the sewer.
7
Simply Orwellian. Putting people in charge of agencies who are hostile to the mission. We need a Democratic takeover of Congress, and we need it fast.
11
What happened to drain the swamp? So far Trump has placed more than 100 industry lobbyists in key government positions. Many, like that of Pruitt spent their prior lives fighting the very departments they now run.
3
In phase two, Pruitt's Environmental Protection Agency becomes the Environmental Destruction Agency.
Actions to consider:
Requiring all Americans to drive at least 20% more miles per year or face fines.
All homes must be heated to 85 degrees in winter and cooled to 65 degrees in summer.
Solar panels are outlawed. Those who have them already installed face fines until they are removed.
All cars sold in America will be subject to a gas sipper tax -- the more efficient the car, the higher the tax.
The oil well heads in the Gulf of Mexico will be uncapped two days per week so that crude oil will spill into the Gulf. The Federal Government will pay for the spilled oil to subsidize struggling oil producers.
Organically grown produce is hereby outlawed. All fruits and vegetables must be sprayed with pesticides and fertilizers and anything else the chemical companies have to sell.
Schools will immediately start teaching that toxicity is good because it promotes profits, er, jobs.
C'mon, Mr. Pruitt! Step up! Surely you can take a more active role in destroying the environment than simply rolling back regulations. Where are the new laws that require Americans to increase their consumption of fossil fuels and toxic chemicals?
6
Let's make fine dining with regulated companies illegal.
Let's make fine dining a crime.
Let's make working for a regulated company after working in the EPA a crime.
3
The point is blatant conflict of interest and bias; nobody (except you) is talking about making fine dining a crime. Obviously, if HRC did anything remotely comparable to this you and your ilk would be foaming at the mouth. Enjoy the mercury in your fish!
1
Honestly, do we need any more evidence of the total contempt that the GOP has for those who are not in the 1%. As far as they are concerned, let the rest of the country drink contaminated water, eat chemical laced food, breath polluted air and then die when they have no health care.
6
Mr. Pruitt is head of the Environmental Protection Agency. That's what it's called. It's not a brand, but a title describing what it is supposed to do.
This is simple. Scott Pruitt should be sued and then fired for incompetence.
218
The American people should say YOU ARE FIRED
(at least).
The title of a recent NY Times article about "a first-of its kind federal lawsuit, in which a Denver lawyer and a far-left environmental group are asking a judge to recognize the Colorado River as a person" was "Corporations have Rights. Why Shouldn't Rivers?" This, admittedly slim chance possibility for successful outcome lawsuit, adds weight to WillyD's proposal that "Scott Pruitt should be sued and then fired for incompetence." If serious downstream human and environmental harm to people, to rivers, to the atmosphere, to the biosphere, results from Pruitt's screw the environment industrialized EPA mission corruption, why shouldn't he be sued on behalf of the people, the rivers, the atmosphere, and the biosphere, taking his own suing of the EPA as Oklahoma's attorney general as precedent.
“As E.P.A. has been the poster child for regulatory overreach, the agency is now meeting with those ignored by the Obama administration....”
When the spokesperson for the agency is parroting the anti-environment stance, you know things have gotten bad. Pruitt is an embarrassment to this country and a threat to all the progress made since the EPA's founding.
7
And he just changed the name to the Environmental Pollution Agency.
4
He is busy at destroying rules and regs to protect consumers and workers.
5
How can this human being look at his children and his grandchildren and be at peace with what he is and what he does?
177
I'm not surprised. There are creatures in the swamp that eat their own.
The Hague International Court should be the proper answer.
1
How many bribes is this guy collecting, not to mention promises of future employment?
8
What parts of "Environment" and "Protection" does he not understand?
18
All parts of it.
2
Scott Pruitt has instituted procedures requiring aides to surrender cell phones before meetings, telling them they can’t take notes, and ensuring verbal rather than written/email is the communication standard for his Environmental Pollution Agency.
He also is having a $25,000 super-spy phone booth — Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) — built in his EPA office even though there already is one a separate floor of the EPA building for the rare occasions when one is needed (usually on a call initiated by outside agencies like the National Security Council).
The phone booth will help ensure that no one overhears him handing over the air, water and earth to corporate polluters and swamp creatures.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/10/2/16395370/epa-secret...
If you like trashing the planet for profit and Oklahoma's fracking industry's modern earthquake record, Scott Pruitt will be great for your polluted soul.
45
This fox isn't guarding the hen house. He's poisoning it. He IS the danger. There is no end in sight to the ocean of corruption in this administration and cabinet.
25
Let's hope Pruitt gets caught on some transgression, like flying luxury at the taxpayer's expense--that will get him out the door. One can only hope.
17
Thank you NYT for giving us a window into how the swamp draining is going.
28
Literally - I seriously doubt Scott Pruitt has any regard whatsoever for any sort of wetland.
2
Pruitt is the worst of the worst of the unspeakable Trump Administration. Environmental criminals like him are the war criminals of the 21st century.
31
I guess Mr. Pruitt believes that EPA is an acronym for "Environmental Polluters Assistance". Typical of this clueless administration.
15
No surprise with this headline.
11
The basis of patriotism is the love of the country that cares for you. The clean water, fresh air and good earth that yields itself to our will so that we might prosper. It is patriotic to protect those elements of our country, the land, water and air.
With this administration we see exploitation, not protection, development not preservation; and support for this wrong approach is offered by the fossil fuel energy community. Mr. Pruitt's pretentious horse back rides shrink to his environmentally insensitive use of private jets to fly to and from his homes.
We need an environmentalist in this position. Someone who respects the earth and the reasons we should be protecting the land owned by the American citizens.
30
Never thought EPA would stand for the the Environmental Pollution Agency. God bless those who have decided to stay, obstruct him from the inside, and ride out this nightmare...
It's completely mystifying that the right has allowed our natural environment to become a partisan issue...
24
Nixon looks like a progressive environmental saint compared to these hooligans.
Thank goodness that we have someone who understands the costs to us all from heavy handed and politically motivated agitation for regulation and not just the desires and agendas of professional activists and litigators. it is way past time that Congress takes back control of legislation instead of delegating incredibly widespread power to unelected and unaccountable administrators and hacks. If you were cheering for regulation under Obama and resent how things are now or the reverse, then you should at least understand that the issue is delegation of critical responsibilities by the Legislative branch to the Executive that allows these swings to happen.
You might want to take a look at the cost of the environmental disasters in this country. Start with the poisoned water in Texas after the recent storms and keep going until you learn about things like the Exxon Valdez.
1
The only thing to understand is that the stupid Contrarians think governing with blinders on while submitting to the will of the Great Divider will make a paradise for white people. It is hell already. Greed and corruption back in the saddle again. Wahoo!
1
To John in NH--Your comment assumes the Legislative branch believed in government.
Houston, we have a problem. Which is worse? To detail the horror we give to our children or to be more guarded and qualify our statements. We call climate chaos "climate change". Sounds like taking an umbrella today. As Harvey formed in the Gulf, the waters underneath were 5 degrees above average. What a shame about that freak flooding from Harvey. 30% of Houston's absorbing wetlands were paved between 1990 and 2010. Harvey was one of 3 "500 year" floods in Houston in the last 5 years.
8, not 3, feet of sea-level rise by 2100 is inevitable. Yes, inevitable under the best of conditions and an immediate reversal of atmospheric CO2.
11
Well whatever Pruitt is doing, one thing is certain... he doesn't want people knowing about it. Between the sound proofing modifications and cloak and dagger policies he's pushing, one could be forgiven for thing the man was running one of the intelligence agencies.
18
Scott Pruitt's apparent goal is to eliminate the significance of the EPA by turning it into an Industry Lobbying Subsidiary of Congress! Can we now expect Pruitt to use his power to by-pass the legislative process to 'Fast-Track' industry requests, legitimizing them with the goal of making them exempt from political discourse concerning our safety? Mr. Pruitt is the most dangerous man in government at the moment; using the EPA as an authoritarian platform through which his approvals will lower the hard fought standards for environmental safety. Every decision he makes should be challenged within our Justice System, before the EPA is no longer!
Scott E. Torquato, MS, LCSW
12
Of course. We knew this would happen when he was nominated. Like Trump, this job is all about advancing Pruitt - nothing else. And when you throw in the poorly kept secret that he is running for Senator or Governor in Oklahoma that explains his trips back home. This abuse of our federal funds needs to stop. NOW.
17
Let's hope he wins as Governor of Oklahoma. When is the election? He can't do much more harm there.
http://earthquakes.ok.gov/what-we-know/earthquake-map/
Congratulations to Green Party candidate Jill Stein and the folks who voted for her.
Purity of the Turf is much more important than clean air and water and the federal government denying the reality of global warming.
8
An almost comically corrupt administration.
17
Even more terrifying, and not at all comical is the pillage the Republican Party in both Houses are doing while Trump and his cabinet "incite us, distract us' and in "our face" laugh at us in gross contempt, and on their way to the bank. I hope all people with dignity and common sense see to it to vote in 2018 and really start cleaning house. THE CORRUPTION IN THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE CRIMINAL, CYNICAL BEHAVOUR OF THE HOUSES IS FRIGHTENING. We can only claim our nation back when we vote..... and thanks to Trump and the Russians even our vote is not safe.
2
To Ken Nyt in Chicago--would be if it weren't so lethal!
1
I hope to see the day when this guy gets run out of office. Wha a complete joke. EPA my foot!
11
Does this really surprise anyone? This man will not be happy until there no longer is an EPA. Soundproof office, corporate raping of our resources and leaving his staff in the dark and out any agenda he's planning... where did our care and compassion for our planet go? It's so sad.
8
This is a person who despises the EPA and is on the side of special interests, greed and dollars. Forget about the environment, the planet and the people, we are all sacrificial lambs to this abomination.
The irony of all this is he has sued the EPA 14 times and now heads it; Talk about a conflict of interests. It’s like putting a fox in charge of a hen house; how twisted is that?
237
here here!, if Hillary cared about he environment, she wouldn't be taking limo's and private jets everywhere.
The EPA has been governed by special interests for decades. Your objection is in the loss of influence by your special interests. Too bad the Democrat establishment anointed an odious candidate who represented the only human being on earth who could lose to Trump.
This is just disgusting, no other words come to me.
12
He has the appearance of a soon to be felon, I hope. He reminds me of those other criminals, Price, Mnuchin, and the rest of the cabinet.
18
To Abe in Lincoln--Bad odor coming from the White House. Is this an open cesspool? Or maybe it is a mausoleum where someone forgot to seal up the little doors.
"Drain the swamp" people believe Trump when right before their eyes he put the swamp creatures on anabolic steroids. They also believe him when he says he won't listen to the crying of the 1% when he makes them pay their fair share of taxes. It's not the deplorables. Its the gullibles.
14
Wonder, has anyone obtained the calendars of previous EPA Chiefs under Obama, Bush, or Clinton. Seems to me that DC is drunk on money, bureaucracy, and elitist meals and meetings. I realize that facts and history and overall government largess is not of interest to the NYTimes unless they can attack Republicans, but all of DC is corrupt when it comes to spending and donors. To ignore that fact, makes this article little more than partisan whining and finger pointing.
1
It is pretty obvious that you didn't actually read the article before you arrived at this conclusion, or you would have noticed that they made a direct comparison to the calendar of Obama's Secretary of the EPA.
1
Scott Pruitt, Republican monster #39, ruining this planet for our children and grandchildren. Clean water and air vs. industry? Easy, industry every time in Pruitt's addled greedy paranoid mind.
8
Pruitt is so deep in oil patch pockets it's amazing he ever finds time to come up for air y'all. We've been watching him here in red dirt country for years. And the frequent trips back to Oklahoma will no doubt continue because we fully expect he'll be our governor some day.
12
This is really the worst part of the Trump fiasco. Well, other than North Korea...and racism...and the gutting of the State Department...and....
9
When our children look back and tell their children about the downfall of climate change and the fall of our civilzation, they will be able to point directly to 45 and Scott Pruitt for allowing things to continue business as usual and for not doing anything to mitigate climate change.
Instead, we pander to industry rather than partner with them towards making reductions, so that our stock portfolios don't suffer too much. The beginning of the end is nigh, Mr. Pruitt. What side are you on?
Also, democrats need to work as hard as they can to make sure this country does not stay with the republicans in 2020. That means no Hilary - we need a candidate who can actually win.
133
And, represents all people - not the democratic party leaders.
Reminder: she did.
1
If we lived in a country where majority rule was the standard she would be the president. We've been had.
1
Equinox, Equifax; hard to keep this stuff straight.
3
Paging the Lorax!
May we at least call it what it is: the Egregious Pollution Agency?
8
Who is paying for these dinners? He's not allowed to accept gifts exceeding a $50 value, right?
8
Nice to see we still have a sense of humor in the midst of the meltdown.
1
These folks know the score. Pruitt and his industry friends are well aware that the nation overwhelmingly opposes them, and that their window of opportunity will be brief. They’re not interested in appearances, or magnanimity, or the long-term health of the environment (or anything associated with it). They’ll do whatever it takes to get one last big score before the party’s over. At least they’ll all die rich.
356
Some brave individual must act to take him down
Preferably, they'll die in prison, where they all belong.
We will undo all the damage
Why do you think he is working for Trump? Those environmentalists are people on the ground. They dont have the big bucks to throw at the politicians.
6
Ahhh, the swamp is alive and kicking in Washington under Trump. In fact, it got substantially swampier.
Anyone who didn't see it coming wasn't paying attention to Trump over the decades. Anyone surprised, after seeing his picks for administration positions since day one of his presidency, is living in The Bubble.
11
Unfortunately, Pruitt, as Trump, is only on the extreme end of our very unethical government officials. If the same investigative reporting were focused on most any of our legislators, I'll wager that we would find they also make time for those who can grease their palms with money for personal and political gain. It's just that before Trump, these undemocratic breaches of ethics were not so blatant and gross.
Our oligarchic government is approaching the kleptocracy of Russia.
Pruitt is clearly selling our environment for profit. It's clear us plebeians have been robbed. It only takes reading the major, credible newspapers to recognize that the economic crash of 2008 was a direct result of the decades of lax (or no) regulation of Wall Street bankers. Even I, a non-economist, know those that lost their homes when the real estate bubble burst were victims of smooth talking loan sharks. And what I know is likely only the tip of a horribly unethical iceberg.
So don't blame Pruitt; it's Congress' need for money to fulfill their prime goal, above any concerns for their constituents, of winning their next campaign. It's the Executive branch consistently keeping Wall Street bankers in Cabinet positions and as close advisers. It's the business friendly Supreme Court that declared corporations are people too, as though they are wizards in black robes that could breath life into a legal invention that even lacks a physical body. What pretense!
9
"Our oligarchic government is approaching the kleptocracy of Russia."
And perhaps that was the substance of that discussion the traitor had with putin, attended by only an interpreter. The traitor was being personally challenged to outdo the ferocious theft he pulled off in his country.
"Think you can beat that? After all, you owe us MONEY."
4
No one can be shocked by this report given what was known about him when he was chosen to run the EPA ( into the ground). That he carries on with his agenda is disgraceful and yet he can because he was confirmed by a Senate dominated for now by recidivist zealots who are besotted by greed and power.
We can only hope for sanity to return before all is truly lost, but it will not come without the hard work ahead to promote and install progressive leadership into government. My fear is that the constant fraying of our social fabric by Trump and his minions will leave us so dispirited that we lose sight of our ultimate right to resposible leadership. Death by a thousand cuts comes to mind.
Yet you felt compelled to insert a comment about Gina McCarthy’s disproportionate number of meetings with environmental groups and lobbyists, wouldn’t that be expected if your job is to head the Environmental PrROTECTION Agency? To quote Joe Biden “Give me a break”.
15
You are expressing exactly my sentiments when I read that portion of the story. The EPA should be expected to safeguard the environment not polluting industries.
4
While China is working on the future and clean energy sources, our government is talking to coal executives while the president even promises jobs for coal miners.
Pruitt, this reprehensible character was picked deliberately (as all Trump's cabinet picks were) to destroy the agencies in which they were put in charge.
Let's hope he is the next to go...eating fancy meals payed for by corporations that have no interest in global climate change, traveling on the taxpayers time and schmoozing with big salaried executives that care nothing about their employees or the country- only their paychecks. Thank you & keep exposing these monsters for who they are.
13
I just get a sick feeling, reading about moves such as disregarding scientists recommendations to ban certain pesticides. No judicial impartiality here!
9
Well at least his travel does not show the signs of fiscal abuse that others like Price or Mnuchin. 1200-2000 is about the correct GSA government fare rate in economy plus from Dulles International. Because government rate fares must be fully refundable and fully changeable without fees, and are typically reserved only a few days before travel they are more expensive than typical online bookings So there doesn’t appear to be scandalous travel in this case. The scandal, however, is that this fellow cares not one whit for the environment or in reasonable regulation the pollution of industry.
4
Trump deliberately appointed a saboteur, and not an advocate, to head the EPA, one who needs to be removed as he is breaking the law by not doing his job.
Profit Pruitt also wants his own private and secure communications booth where he will walk into it dressed as a mild mannered EPA Administrator, and walk out of it as the powerful Anti Man, known destroyer of our environment and contaminator of our air and water resources in the name of injustice for all, and profits for some.
283
an advocate for what? inane policies created by obama?
Pruitt has also banned cellphones, recording devices and even note taking from his EPA meetings. No records, no FOIA requests. Keep everything secret.
Another element in Trump's Fascist administration.
1
You could say the same for the entire cabinet. It’s a feature, not a bug.
"As E.P.A. has been the poster child for regulatory overreach...."
Those of us who regularly travel in developing countries for our work cannot thank the EPA enough for the clean air and water that awaits us upon our return home to the USA. This administration will make all Americans realize that we don't recognize the value of a clean environment until we no longer have it.
19
Coming soon...
2
One wonders how any official charged with keeping the environment protected would want to soften the Clean Water Act. But considering Pruitt's background one doesn't have to go any further. I wonder how parents of young children will explain to them how they supported such dangerous administrators twenty or thirty years down the pike.
10
Boy am I proud of this administration, they're true to their campaign promises.
Obama did a great job, that is why he scared America so much that is why people voted polar opposite of what he stood for.
Trump is elected by the people - so much power changed hands without a drop of blood, its something to be proud of. This is what people wanted. Coal industry to be revived because people don't want to try new innovative ways to power their homes - that is fine.
I voted for Clinton - But if Trump cuts taxes and my take home amount increases(that is money for tutoring,swim lessons and few extra days of vacation) and he doesn't touch the earned income credit and mortgage taxes - he got my vote. Lets all vote our interests. Money in my pocket is something i can believe in. Lets just hope the economy remains strong.
This country belongs to the rich, middle class, poor & immigrants are privileged to be here.
No, this is NOT what the people wanted. You need to hire a tutor to help you with your math skills.
3
I did not even talk math. Learn the difference between math and Tax policy. Taxes may contain numbers, but its heavy in politics.
Trump's cabinet appointments are inline with his campaign promises, you have to be a sensational voter not to see that.
With your "No, this is NOT what the people wanted." response, you sound like the working class who thought he was gonna serve their interests.
He promised to roll back regulation to protect the environment (AKA job killers in conservative lingo) and who is better to do that than the guy who sued the EPA? What else did people want when they voted?
Pruitt is only one toad in this swamp. This is the kingdom of deregulation. Banks, business, environment are all being freed from their inconvenient ties to responsibility. It does not matter that policy is dedicated to short term gain for the wealthy minority. It matters less that the majority are in for long term harm. The "base" seems to delight in the delicious simplicity of destruction.
11
as with virtually all of trumps appointees, this only represents the wealthiest, the largest, the greatest polluters. when trump talks about the swamp, he is describing HIS people. expecting him, to change is dreaming. it will take generations to correct this insanity of a mad president and his quislings.
7
Pruitt is a dog of industries and he epitomize what is wrong with this country. The US is not a democratic country but one ran by greed and power. We can't even have a president by popular votes but the outdated electoral college decides the fate of country against the will of the people. People like Pruitt does more harm to the country, society and mankind, and this guy is not shamed to show who is holding the leash.
7
If you've ever lived in a house and been given the stomach churning diagnosis that termites have been living there, too, and making themselves at home in your home, feasting on its skeleton, a cancer in its bones, you have some idea of what is happening to the EPA under Scott Pruitt. The dedicated professionals trying to protect and preserve our land and water are being rendered impotent by this parasite.
53
I missed your expose' on the dining habits of the Obama's, Clinton's, Lynch, Holder, Warren, Sanders... By the way, would you meet with the industrial leader in a polluting form of energy that needed improvement because we had untold resources in that commodity?
No! Perhaps you would not be doing your job if you did not.
I also expect your article on famine experts never ending gourmet meals to be a real "barn burner". None planned... Really!
2
Pruitt has the brains of Louis Gohmert, the (im)morality and selfish disregard, in favor of greed and against all that is right and reasonable, as trump.
On the other hand, while his is a malicious and stupid 'take' of the function of the E.P.A., he does know something about the agency -- which distinguishes him from at least several of trump's cabinet appointees who, like trump, have no relevant experience for the jobs they're supposed to do, and, even if they had, nonetheless have none of the organizational experience or skills required to succeed.
5
Trump said he would hire the best people, the greatest people. He actually has done so and its on track to make the government servient of the big corporations instead of the people.
Welcome to the new U.S.A., Inc.
15
The entire Trump administration is corrupt; the fish rots from the head down...
19
Sounds like Pruitt is planning to build his home outside the environment.
23
Touché. Somehow those who live in golden towers seem to feel that will leave them untouched.
1
I guess the NY Times is going to begin getting up earlier and running faster to surprise me. Just another example of special interests -- whether financial, environmental, or diplomatic -- ruling the swampy roost that is currently the beltway.
9
If any journalists can penetrate his swat team of bodyguards, perhaps they can add the Lake Erie algae bloom to their questions about how well the oil industry is doing in their management of our nation's environment.
11
Pruitt is conferring with the Family Resource Council on the topic of excitement over his "leadership role"? Really?
This would be the same Family Resource Council that employed Josh Duggar as executive director of their lobbying PAC for the purpose of lecturing legislators on the true meaning of marriage? That would be the same child molester Josh Duggar who, after molesting inter alia his own little sisters, went on to demonstrate the true Family Resource Council value of marriage by maintaining not one but two Ashley Madison cheating cheaters accounts while his wife was pregnant.
Wow. You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.
43
I think this is what's known as a shill.
18
"As E.P.A. has been the poster child for regulatory overreach, the agency is now meeting with those ignored by the Obama administration."
Ummm okay. The EPA was established by Nixon to consolidate federal environmental protection, monitoring and regulation into one agency. To protect the environment. For goodness sakes it is the agency's NAME! Rolling back regulations after expensive wine and dines with people who are interested in less regulation to protect their bottom lines is not paying attention to those who were "ignored," it is doing their bidding.
Scott Pruitt and the EPA need to enforce federal law and work with industry to bring them into compliance with federal laws to protect the environment, not pillage it while protecting some short-term profit margins.
21
I would say that the ones most ignored are the poor and the powerless, who typically suffer the worst consequences when it comes to environmental pollutants.
5
It also seems oddly convenient for Pruitt that the next meeting of the CEC Council (the organization set up under the environmental agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the US) is set to take place in Oklahoma City this year. The location cannot be coincidental.
12
When did government agencies start issuing formal responses to inquiries that include language like "attempt to sensationalize for clicks"? It's incredible how quickly one man, Donald J. Trump, can lower the bar on decorum in the Federal government.
70
While Trump is making a hash of our country and perhaps pulling us to the brink of nuclear war, his man at EPA is quietly doing his share to make this world a worse place for our children. He's the real snake in the grass, with his scary soundproof office where he can make his deals to destroy our beautiful land so that his business cronies can get even richer.
561
I fully agree, and this 'snake in the grass' should be tried at the International Court in The Hague for endangering our children and great children. He is the worst of the worst.
They are all snakes
1
As the saying does, it is well establashed what Pruitt is; now he’s just negotiating the price.
39
Didn't Rod Blagoyovich, former gov of IL, go to jail for this kind of stuff?
1
We must now prepare to remove Trump and the republicans from office in 2020. NYT must continue to publish and get picked up mainstream. Facebook and Twitter need to vet posts responsibly.
The electoral college also needs to change to make a vote from NY and CA count as much as a vote from Kentucky or S. Dakota.
Lastly, Citizens United needs to go away.
We are limited with what we can do with these idiots. Except get them out in 2020.
Trump is a sociopath and the foxes are now guarding the henhouse that were born out of our system flaws.
36
I don't think we can afford to wait until 2020. Impeachment should be the No. 1 issue in 2018. If we can't convince enough Republicans to consider it sooner.
4
Rocco--Resist. Remove. Then, indict pense. Almost nothing but criminals in the Republican Party. And, don't forget to VOTE. If you don't, YOU will be to blame for our demise.
4
Lagibby--Hear, hear!
2
Are these people willfully ignorant or just plain evil?
The polar ice caps are melting. Climate change is real. And they're attacking the NYT for sensational news coverage of an appointment calendar?
Wow, what muckrakers you are at the NYT. How dare you report on the fact that the EPA chief is wining and dining with industry leaders willing to destroy the earth for their personal profit??!! We're only talking about a group of self-dealing men gambling with the future of the planet. No need to get "sensational" about it.
You'd think the future of humanity is at stake.
53
The swamp gas becomes more putrid day by day.
23
Sooty-fingered Scott Pruitt is doing just what he did in Oklahoma--advocating for the greenhouse gas polluting oil and gas companies. He's the proverbial "fox" that Donald Trump wanted in the "environmental chicken coop." The rollback in environmental protections in the few short months of the Trump administration is unprecedented and threatens the effort to save the planet from climate change. It's now up to the states and us to protect the environment in any and all ways we can. The lives and well-being of our children and grandchildren depend on it.
18
This administration very carefully sought out people to dismantle the gency they head. Pruitt, a man who does not believe in saving the environment heads the EPA. Betsy DeVos, a woman who does not believe in public education is in charge of education. The former head of HHS, Tom Price, did not believe in providing health care for people. Ben Carson's experience with public housing is that he lived in the inner city as a child. Rex Tillerson ran an oil company, so that qualified him to to secretary of state. But then again, Trump has no experience in governance, or legislation. Bullying people is not leadership.
26
This should be the top story of the day. Analyzing the hotel room from which a shooter exercised his 2nd Amendment rights has fleeting relevance to our lives -- the overt corruption of Scott Pruitt will be with us for years and years to come if we don't wake up and do something about it.
20
Of course this is important, vitally so. I think clean air and water are a right and I will continue to fight for them. BUT don't disregard this gun carnage that is becoming entirely too common. The 2nd amendment has been grossly misconstrued. We must stay awake and continue to fight for sanity on both issues.
1
More than Price, Pruitt, with his $25,000 soundproof phone booth, is king of the swamp. I just hope this reporting gets the attention it deserves.
18
Pruitt must think the EPA means the Environment Pollution Agency. In that role, he's doing a stellar job. Seriously, is there anyway to impeach him for dereliction of duty?
11
Is there a job description for the Director of the EPA? If this administration is supposed to be run like a business there should be. A reading of this document just might show that James Bond is not alone in having a "license to kill".
5
None of this should be a surprise! It's Trump's agenda and Pruitt is ideal. Oklahoma is the center of the fracking industry - resulting in earthquake swarms across the regulation free state. The lavish lifestyle? Wine should not be covered by the government. Dining at Trump's DC hotel? Should not be allowed by government officials. Profits should go to a relief foundation. DC is becoming a cesspool led by a President with a four day work week.
15
I know that he is considered to be some sort of evil genius; however, the reality is that he cannot be very bright. If he was, he would be doing this much more quietly, "boiling the frog" sort of...
No, the reality is that he is another of the administration's overly corrupt and intellectually challenged members who believe they are getting free reign over the health and welfare of the citizens of this country.
8
So glad to know Mr. Air Pollution is enjoying white glove service at DC's top steak houses, with his pals from the fossil fuel industry.
Who is paying ? Taxpayers? Oil Lobby?
Regardless - it screams Conflict of Interest.
Why no sanctions ? .
14
Mr. Trump is the swamp he so dishonestly derides. He and all his swamp dwellers like Mr. Pruitt and Mr. Price are laughing all the way to the bank (on the American people's hard earned money). Certainly the Democrats have played in the same game over the years, but at least they have been more inclusive and seem closer to understanding what government should and can be for the good of the American people. This lot has shown themselves to be corrupt - in fact the very corrupt Mr. Trump was completely open about his corruption. It's sad to know that the American people voted against themselves in this election -- somehow believing that Trump and his cronies wouldn't make them look just as corrupt to the world. The good news here is that the veil has been lifted -- these people cannot hide anymore behind their favorite punching bag, Hillary Clinton -- they will go down on their own or lack there of "merits". Good riddance!
6
Why would you need to meet repeatedly with your past clients? Your billable hours should know what they want. It would seem to me the side you have not listened to yet is the one you always sued.
4
Is anyone surprised? Pruitt is the poster boy for Bannon' s deconstructionist, a man who sued the agency he now runs 14 times prior to his nomination. That he was confirmed by congress is a travesty,
7
Big Oil should take note; for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. This type of over-reach by Pruitt is galling. There will come a time when these polluting monsters will all be going the way of the whaling industry and the horse drawn carriage.
8
If Earth Day is still around next year (big ? on that) it needs to be the largest one in history to showcase our need to stop corporate America from putting their bottom-line ahead of society's. Bringing a snowball into Congress to disprove climate change makes as much sense as eating a taco bowl to show your "love" of Mexicans. You people (Americans I think) voted to allow these swamp creatures into positions of importance. You believed the lies they told you and now cover your eyes with blinders when they let polluters dump coal waste into your drinking water. You feign support when they remove rules that endanger the lungs of your children and grandchildren. You shout "Lock her up!) while these people skirt around the country and the world on your dime to sightseeing Paris, London, Rome and Oklahoma ((why?). They install sound proof booths in their office so no one can overhear their nefarious plots to enrich themselves and their cronies. They never miss an opportunity to announce their support for our troops and first-responders (which we ALL do), but fail to show the slightest concern for the vast majority of the country who happened to vote for someone else.
Their actions have done more to separate into clans than any action Putin, Korea, ISIS, etc, could ever accomplish. We are headed on the down slope toward making America a failed experiment if we, Americans of all stripes, do not force them into accepting our will. We, the integrates and losers you call us.
4
One more Trumpite trying to destroy everything we have worked for over the last century. The cat is in charge of the henhouse here.
4
Mr. Trump said he would drain the swamp. He neglicted to say he would turn it into a sewer.
30
Actually, draining the swamp was just to be able to replace it with a much bigger, more beautiful swamp. Standard practice for real estate moguls
2
The mission of the EPA is to protect human health and the environment. That mission statement rang true for every administration from Nixon to Obama. Under this administration, the EPA has been turned on its head, protection for humans and the environment will take a back seat to profits for energy-related corporations. That's not only dangerous, it threatens the long-term economic interests of the United States. Pruitt's legacy may very well be harming Americans at the expense of the petro-chemical industry.
18
While I appreciate the reporting I think opponents of this admin would do well to concentrate on voting, both in 2018 and 2020. The only thing trump understands and respects is power. Opponents of this admin should take on the same immediacy that the Tea Party folks assumed in 2010, that is take no prisoners. It's the only thing that folks like Ryan, McConnell and Trump understand. Hardly anyone in this admin feels the need to adhere to any form of civility and opponents should handle them the same way.
9
This demonstrates why Trump probably did the world a favor by pulling out of the Paris agreement. If he had kept us in, the US would likely try to undermine the agreement at every turn. At least now, the other 95% of the world's people have a chance to move forward. Hopefully some States and US companies will continue to support the agreement.
3
The 45 administration is indifferent, at best, and hostile, at worst, to science.
OK, so we cannot rely on government to halt climate change.
But what about "industry"? Do we accept that the titans of industry have so little sense of humanity and patriotism that they are willing to destroy the planet to make a quick buck?
232
yes.....welcome to the 1890s ..when big business did whatever it damn well pleased and bought lawmakers to establish laws to suit them.....Robber Barons are in charge again, beginning with Trump
1
Only as long as last quarters results are better than the previous, that revenue continues to increase year over year. Otherwise these "titans" will be out of a job.
Short answer: Yes.
We live with the permanent evidence that even if regulated, many if not most willingly pollute & attempt to skirt regulation.
Perhaps the culture improves as old-school polluters die off & greenwashing becomes popular, but it doesn't take many bad apples to make a permanent mess.
GE permanently destroyed rivers with pcb's, knowing full well the danger, but failed to control without regulation. They made out like the evil industrial robber-barons they remain.
Trust not industry to have any scruples at all. A conscientious industrialist is the rare exception to the hideous norm.
And big business isn't the only problem, small shops are some of the worst violators.
1
Drain the swamp and infect it with a more destructive species...
4
We need Pruitt's restaurant schedule? Really? The EPA needs an overhaul, a swamp draining. Past administrations turned it into a ridiculous regulation quagmire based on cronies' political gains that had nothing to do with benefitting the environment in any way. Leave it to the NYT to protect the corrupt swamp.
1
Give us examples of how previous administrations did nothing to benefit he environment, in particular the Obama administration. But I think you know very well that the Trump administration is about destroying the environment for profit.
I no longer expect anything reasonable from this white house, its cabinet, or the congress. The president is incapable of decency and this holds true for everyone in his administration. They are self-serving and destructive. This is also true with members of congress who listen only to their donors--not the voters. They are weak and shameless. This will not end well. We can't defeat the NRA, the polluters and scammers. Blue states should break away and force the red states to go bankrupt.
22
Under Trump, the swamp has become a pool of raw sewage, and Pruitt is there to ensure it won't be regulated.
18
Looks good to me, if not a tad overworked. Next time, hopefully, we’ll see some well deserved time golfing. We need Pruitt for all eight years, a little R&R can go a long way towards that.
Thank you Mr. Secretary for your service. Next up: the typical busy day of NYT Editor Dean Baquet, sorting through the daily heap of anti-Trump stories, selecting ones he likes the most, sharpening headlines for maximum effect. Sigh.
4
Another member of the Trump team dives into "the swamp" head first.
9
Coal mining executives and the EPA secretary have to eat too, you know. And they don't mind eating in a toxic environment, only wimps and losers mind it. So between the filets and flambes a little business gets discussed. What could be the harm ?
Everybody's going to die anyway, why shouldn't it be from dirty air and water.
Mr. Pruitt and his friends should be charged with high crimes to humanity.
27
THIS is the kind of reporting we need more of. Keep up the good work, NY Times!
16
Who will bring lawsuits against this man and the E.P.A. - you know, like Pruitt did when he was in Oklahoma!
19
Mr Mueller this election needs to be declared null and void... there is nothing being done by these monsters except to fill their wallets by destroying our country
15
Trump picked him to do exactly what he's doing so this is no surprise.
In Trump's world, Pruitt is an ice cream sundae (remove regulations and gain power and clout and funding from huge corporations with deep pockets) -- plus the added bonus of a cherry on top (reversing and undoing anything done/created/hope for by the Obama administration).
I am basically paying Pruitt's salary and funding his expensive, elitist lifestyle to enable giant corporations who waste more in one day than I'll ever make in my lifetime.
#resist
23
E.P.A. now stands for Enabling Pollution Agency.
9
In times like these, it is encouraging to remember that while our government may be failing us, the fourth estate - including the media and nonprofit organizations - are staying vigilant. Sunlight is truly the best disinfectant for the stunning incompetence and hypocrisy of this administration.
Special thanks to organizations like the Environmental Integrity Project bringing these issues to light. We need these organizations now more than ever!
499
It is unfortunate that the fourth estate napped during the Obama administration. During the Presidential campaign leading up to the 2016 election, they criticized Trump 95% of the time and downplayed the corruption of Hillary. They have clearly demonstrated that they are opposed to Trump and opposed to any policy recommendation from anyone who is not a flaming liberal.
Thus, they have lost credibility with 80% of the population. Even liberals admit that the media is biased.
Wow, this man gives regulatory capture a bad name.
4
Maybe the EPA should become the "Environmental Poisoning Agency".
5
Scott Pruitt does — not — care. Like his boss, he believes he is above the law and beyond consequences.
26
Nothing new here, regardless of party, expensive lunches and dinners is Washington D.C. Why do you think Trump opened an expensive hotel, bar and restaurant there?
Personally I'd like to see Pelosi in line at The Chairman Truck for the Coke braised Pork. #NeverHappens
1
This creature who loves a black lagoon was hired to destroy the EPA and as many of its accomplishments as possible, and he won't be doing it on the cheap, either.
13
Trump's Swamp
has large toxic fumes emissions
costs the taxpayers a whole lot of money
flys to some lovely resorts
is destroying the planet
10
My sincerest thanks to the Reporters who are acting as the real Checks and Balances on this administration. Without you, we would be completely in the dark.
337
How did Scott Pruitt ever pass muster to head the E.P.A.? Aside from having no relevant experience or background in science (which he routinely rejects) Mr. Pruitt shut down Oklahoma's Environmental Protection dept. as that state's Attorney General. Additionally, Mr. Pruitt's fourteen suits against the E.P.A. demonstrates a conflict of interest against the mandate of the agency. His appointment is as nonsensical as say, having a neurosurgeon or wedding planner managing the Housing and Urban Development agency.
79
We know how he passed muster: the Republican Party
3
Not nonsensical, rather owned by the fossil fuel industry with a goal of ruining the environment. The depravity of 45's cabinet picks should be disqualifying.
4
"How did Scott Pruitt ever pass muster to head the E.P.A.?"
By being the most anti-environmental protection attorney general in history. That's what trump and the Rs wanted, and that's what they got.
10
Lunches with lobbyists and industries he regulates.
Long weekends home using tax-payer dollars.
Speaking engagements to partisan groups at luxury resorts.
Sounds swampy to me.
674
Hi John, I'm not sure I 100% understand your comment, but if you're saying poking fun at Trump's rhetoric on the NYT is a softball, I hear you.
1
It's a sewer.
3
Dead on.
I don’t have a major problem with this. Previod occupants of this office had little understanding of industry or the problems that regulations could pose. Regulations that did not consider the unintended consequences.
1
Please be more specific about the unintended consequences. Do they include lack of building regulations that allowed a hurricane to devastate Houston or lack of safety regulations that allowed a factory to explode?
8
You know this for a fact? Please provide examples of environmental regulations that had "unintended" consequences.
6
Regulations that have the intended consequences, and no bad outcomes except for when they don't go far enough. Don't you understand that crippled and dead children are worse than being a multi-millionaire instead of a billionaire?
6
GOP="Pro-Life" until the child is born. Proof? Just allowed CHIP to expire, impacting 9 million US children. Advocating destruction of Medicaid which is how millions of children get healthcare. Thwarting pesticide control and regulation affecting the development of even more millions of children. Callous, cold, uncaring, corrupt= today's GOP.
50
"Medicaid under Obama was hugely widened in its writ with the result that if you were under 65 you were likely a Medicaid recipient when Medicare kicks in". Hmm, that would be the definition of single-payer. I would say you are completely delusional, John.
4
Thank you NY Times for this article.
We need more stories about what is going on behind the closed doors at the White House, and at fancy DC restaurants.
While Trump tweets and gets all the attention, the government burns.
55
Not only does Pruitt wine and dine with Industry, he does it at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
But worst of all, these self serving people walk away with a slap on the wrist, like Price. Why wouldn't such unprincipled people not take advantage of their positions if there are no real consequences for their actions?
35
Turner was never fired or suffered any consequence! Price lost his job! Is that what you mean?
Price losing his job is a slap on the wrist. He still owes taxpayers $400,000 for chartered flights. Please explain how Turner enters the picture.
1
"a poster child for government overreach" my foot! Tell me that as I can't swim in San Diego Pacific waters because of RAW SEWAGE SPILLS, every MONTH; as we experience the SIXTH GREAT DIEBACK of species, because of human activity; as plastic piles up in the oceans, as methane leaks from unnecessary oil-seeking fracking actitivies poison the air, as pig swill ponds threaten to over-top with every environmental disaster, and all coastal cities are having to pull up their infrastructure and move further inland, because everyone wants to drive a car and eat cows. Environmental over-reach! Where, pray tell? Mr. Pruitt, where? How dare you ruin our kids futures with your arrogant ignorance.
47
The globe has been heating up for a couple of millennia. But please where is the administration tolerating more pollution?
They are tried to overturn a law to regulate methane release from fracking wells. They don't want to enforce the Clean Water Act. They don't want to enforce the Clean Air act. Don't you read? This article is about allowing huge industries to influence ordinances - do you think this will result in a cleaner america? Duh!
3
They are trying to reduce regulations limiting the release of methane from fracking operations. They don't want to enforce the clean air act as it relates to CO2. They are trying to limit the clean water act. This entire article is about industry influencing environmental rules - do you think they want to make themselvs cleaner and less - polluting? DUH. Plus, no, @John, the earth has not been heating up for several millenia at the rate it is heating up now, which over the course of a few DECADES. Can you count? Are you going to live for millenia or decades - start out with that small number comprehension test.
3
This comes as no surprise. The wolf is in the hen house. I expect this to continue.
36
As Bill Reilly notesthe level of meetings between Mr. Pruitt and industry executives is "unusual". Unusual describes Trump and Pruitt pretty well.
These two blokes will be history soon, at the latest in 2020. Good riddance.
Fortunately, most Americans do not think or act like Trump or Pruitt.
5
But too many vote for such, because they have no interest in learning what the real consequences are. How are we to solve that problem?
2
Odd that Trump just won an election!
The EPA Mission Statement begins:
The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.
EPA's purpose is to ensure that:
all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work;
national efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on the best available scientific information;
Can the litigious Mr. Pruitt not be sued - at the least - for so willfully neglecting and even obstructing his own duties?
221
Yes. Paging the National Resources Defense Council! Hope you're hiring for the new Trump Administration jobs program-Environmental Law.
1
If his oath of office includes upholding the Constitution, he's clearly violating it for not carrying out the mission of the EPA.
2
Who are the GOP members who approved this man for office? They need to be investigated as well. Enough with this corrupt charade.
1
Thanks for goving the heads up of which companies have a deep interest in my wallet over my health.
15
In my native language we have a word to describe this behavior:
Corruption.
392
Mr Pruitt sees his mission as dismantling the EPA, period. If he succeeds, people will die, disasters will happen, and the assets of regular people will lose value as the area in which they live deteriorates.
There is nothing positive in this agenda for 99% of the american people. The 1% will make a killing-literally and figuratively.
213
In some ways, the amount of premature death supported by this man's policy changes (and his boss's) will kill more people than the horrific shooter in Vegas Sunday night. Ponder that for a moment.
2
This is absolutely disgusting! Does this man not have children or grandchildren? What kind of a world will the Trump administration be leaving for them. Have they no shame? Ivanka do you not care about what your father's administration is doing to our home, the earth?
70
He probably has children and grandchildren. But, he will leave them enough money from the largess of his corporate benefactors that he believes they will be able to ensconce themselves in a protective environment bubble.
3
According to this man, individuals live a short life here on earth, and then if they have been devout, move on to a magical place in the sky where they live forever. Having been poisoned by industry is no great handicap, if that happens. To die wealthy is a part of the reward, though, and he sees it as his responsibility to help as many industry moguls do so as possible. Harm to the public? Well, any individuals who are devout won't mind a little cancer, or emphysema, or a neurological disorder, and any who aren't aren't worth anything anyway.
3
They aren't worried about that. By the time their ilk have finally exhausted the planet, their ultra wealthy descendants will be living in luxury space station a la the movie "Elysium" or have otherwise figured out a way to escape the disaster. Really; they know their money will buy them and theirs a way out.
2
I would like to know if Pruitt profits from his ties to the industries he is supposed to regulate. What do we know about his investments and other possible financial benefits?
118
When he leaves office, these companies will pay him back handsomely. They will all become devoted, regular private practice clients of his, and each year he'll make millions (possibly taxed at the proposed partnership pass through rate of 25% to boot). No more living on a government paycheck for him. There is nothing subtle about how this works.
10
His benefits will accrue when he leaves the EPA.
1
Clearly yours is a rhetorical question, hk.
In 20 years mister Pruitt will be brought before a jury. He will be accused of manslaughter. The number of victims will be very very high. In addition to this, he will be accused of ignoring that his policies would cause many wars, all over the world. Better to put the man into custody now. You have no time to lose.
34
THIS is the man responsible for ensure we have a healthily environment?
Wine and Dine the polluters, give them more power to damage the planet
Spend tax payer money on going home
So much for draining the Swamp
Trump and his people are criminal in their disgrace of America.
129
Some are hungry for appreciation, others are hungry for world travel, yet others are hungry for recognition from the rich and famous and still yet others are simply hungry. Welcome! To the Trump world. Welcome to the Swamp.
139
No concern about his schedule or goals. That's what Americans (the ones upset about kneeling) want him to do. So, enjoy the expensive foods and wines on our tax dollars.
66
Mr. Pruitt: We only have one environment. Once it's squandered, it's gone.
127
The Democrats are a decade away from being as organized as the Republican Koch-ALEC powerhouse.
Actually, that's a decade after they once realize they are so behind and need to change dramatically.
12
Everything Pruitt does is designed to enrich industry and pollute the country. He'll dismantle as many regulations as possible. The question is, what can be done?
232