Acting EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler has been caught –yet again– engaging with racist and conspiracy theory posts on social media. He pooh-poohed questions about online interactions he had with a Pizzagater, and tells a reporter he doesn't remember liking a racist picture of the Obamas. — Read the rest
The video below makes it clear that EPA head Scott Pruitt has learned from his boss how to defend himself when people call him out for breaking laws and wasting extravagant sums of taxpayer money — make no apology, make no sense, attack the accusers, and hide behind religion and patriotism. — Read the rest
Embattled EPA Director Scott Pruitt went on national TV to announce on behalf of the US government that "I would not agree [CO2 is] a primary contributor to the global warming that we see… There's a tremendous disagreement about the degree of the impact [of] human activity on the climate."
Last year, one of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's aides ordered a dozen $130 fountain pens paid for with taxpayer money, according to new documents that the Sierra Club retrieved through a Freedom of Information Act request. The pens were emblazoned with the EPA seal and Pruitt's signature. — Read the rest
America Rising, a GOP oppo research firm, has filed a slew of Freedom of Information requests seeking access to EPA employees' email, targeting employees who criticized Donald Trump, Scott Pruitt, or EPA policies, or who participated in union rallies against cuts; the requests target communications that mention Trump officials or are addressed to Democrats in Congress.
The Intercept's Sharon Lerner is the best journalist on Trumpian science appointees going, and her piece on Michael Dourson, whom Trump wants confirmed as the EPA's second most powerful executive as Director of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention is a scorcher.
Trump wants to dismantle America's labor, environmental and safety regulations, but to do so, he needs to hold hearings, post notices, collect feedback and go through the whole long, cautious process of changing agency rules for the EPA and others.
Scott Pruitt, the Trump administration's top environmental official, privately met with the CEO of Dow Chemical just before reversing the EPA's efforts to ban a widely used Dow pesticide. Multiple scientific studies showed chlorpyrifos can damage the brains of children.
Today's Associated Press story is a clear case for why the Environmental Protection Agency and its appointed leader matter to American lives. — Read the rest
Not since the Reagan era cold war with Russia has apocalyptic awareness been so forefront in the public's mind. Disturbing incidents ranging from nuclear football Facebook selfies to alarming North Korean military activity now accrue weekly. Sometimes hourly. What can one do besides scroll through Twitter before bedtime and let the news populate our nightmares? — Read the rest
Scientific American summarized five of Donald Trump's "major moves many see as hostile toward science." They are:
— Read the rest• Trump's pick for head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actively battled its mission
"To lead the EPA, Trump appointed Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who has long opposed environmental regulations and has questioned the science behind climate change."
