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Sunday, April 8, 2018

Security for EPA chief comes at a steep cost to taxpayers


Security for EPA chief comes at a steep cost to taxpayers

Regardless of our
political affiliation
my friends!


WE need to rid this country of the
greedy, selfish, infestation in our government,
while we still have a government and a country!


Just one of many that need to be on our chopping block!

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt’s concern with his safety came at a steep cost to taxpayers as his swollen security detail blew through overtime budgets and at times diverted officers away from investigating environmental crimes.

Altogether, the agency spent millions of dollars for a 20-member full-time detail that is more than three times the size of his predecessor’s part-time security contingent.

Pruitt apparently did not consider that upgrade vital to his safety when taxpayers weren’t footing the bill for his ticket.

But on weekend trips home for Sooners football games, when taxpayers weren’t paying for his ticket, the EPA official said Pruitt flew coach.

The prior head of Pruitt’s security detail, Eric Weese, was demoted last year after he refused Pruitt’s demand to use the lights and sirens on his government-owned SUV to get him through Washington traffic to the airport and dinner reservations.

President Donald Trump offered a full-throated defense of Pruitt in a tweet Saturday night.

7 Misleading Things EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Said In His Interview With Time

In a rare mainstream media interview, the nation’s top environmental regulator blows some smoke.


Promise
Clean up air pollution


Pruitt often praises the improvements in U.S. air quality since the Clean Air Act was passed in the early 1970s.

But he also says Obama should have done more to meet existing standards before issuing newer, tighter limits on pollutants, such as a 2015 ozone standard that drew opposition from business groups.

In Pruitt's own words

“One-hundred-twenty million people in this country live in areas that don’t meet air quality standards. That’s what the previous administration left us with,”

Pruitt told a Heritage Foundation event in October.

In line with his promise


  • Plans to keep EPA’s existing standards for nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, which cause respiratory problems and acid rain.


  • Advanced or approved a higher number of state implementation plans for cutting pollution than the Obama administration did in its first eight months.

Not in line

  • Missed a key deadline for implementing Obama’s 2015 ozone pollution limits and has not indicated when EPA will require polluted areas to take action. Instead formed an ozone task force.
  • Moved to rescind Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which would have reduced planet-warming carbon emissions and harmful air pollutants from coal plants.
  • Plans to ease Obama’s auto pollution standards.
  • Delayed the legal defense of Obama’s standards for mercury and air toxics from power plants.
  • Halted an Obama-era order to prevent states from exempting power plants, refineries and chemical manufacturers from pollution standards when they are starting up, shutting down or malfunctioning.
  • Defended a White House budget proposal that would cut money for state regulators who test air quality and carry out federal laws – despite his public vow to push for funding.

In Pruitt's own words
In line with his promise


  • Suggested a top-10 list of priority sites for the agency to aggressively address.


  • Ordered all Superfund cleanup plans costing more than $50 million to get his personal approval.


  • Issued a task force list of 42 recommendations for the Superfund program, including steps to speed up the assessment, review and decision processes.


  • Ordered two companies to pay $115 million to clean up the San Jacinto Superfund site in Houston, one of two sites significantly damaged by flooding from Hurricane Harvey.

Not in line

  • Signed off on a White House budget proposal that would strip $330 million from the $1.1 billion Superfund program and cut funding for the Justice Department to enforce cases.
  • Has endorsed further staff and resource cuts that could make it more difficult to expedite cleanups.

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