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Hewitt, James [/0=EXCHANGELABS/OU=EXCHANGE ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=41B19DD598D340BB8032923D902D4BD1-HEW ITT/ JAM] 4/4/2018 3:15:09 PM Patrick Hedger [phedger@freedomworks.org] Abboud, Michael [/o=ExchangeLabs/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=b6f5af791al842fladcc088cbf9ed3ce-Abboud, Mic] epa stuff
Hey Patrick,
Off-the-record, here are some bullets regarding how Obama's EPA operated and how the administrator he is doing more to advance Trump's agenda on regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship - declaring a war on lead, cleaning up toxic superfund sites - than his predecessor. Please let me know if you need anything else or have any questions.
Best, James
BACKGROUND ...
Scott Pruitt's Back-to-Basics Agenda for the EPA. "Republican presidents tend to nominate one of two types of administrator to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. The first is the centrist--think Christie Todd Whitman (2001-03)--who might be equally at home in a Democratic administration. The other is the fierce conservative--think Anne Gorsuch (1981-83)--who views the agency in a hostile light. Scott Pruitt, whom the Senate confirmed Friday, 52-46, doesn't fit either mold. His focus is neither expanding nor reducing regulation. 'There is no reason why EPA's role should ebb or flow based on a particular administration, or a particular administrator,' he says. 'Agencies exist to administer the law. Congress passes statutes, and those statutes are very clear on the job EPA has to do. We're going to do that job.' You might call him an EPA originalist." (The Wall Street Journal, 02/17/17)
REPEALING OBAMA'S JOB-KILLING REGULATIONS ...
EPA moves to repeal Obama's Clean Power Plan coal regs. "EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced Monday that the Trump administration is moving to scrap the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration's signature regulatory program to curb emissions from coal-fired power plants. Pruitt made the announcement at an event in Hazard, Ky., casting the previous policy as unfair. "That rule really was about picking winners and losers," Pruitt said. "The past administration was unapologetic, they were using every bit of power, authority to use the EPA to pick winners and losers on how we pick electricity in this country. That is wrong." (Fox News. 10/09/17)
EPA's Pruitt moves to repeal Obama-era Clean Power Plan. "EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday formally proposed repealing the Obama administration's "Clean Power Plan," in a move to ease regulations on coal-fired power plants. The EPA said the move to repeal would facilitate new developments of U.S. energy resources and reduce unnecessary rules that have curbed their development. "The president made a promise to the American people that the EPA would not be an agency that picks winners and losers as we generate electricity in this country," Pruitt told Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" Tuesday night. "The [Obama] administration made a commitment to declare a war on coal. And effective yesterday and today, that war is
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over." The EPA said in a statement that the agency wants to declare that the Clean Power Plan exceeded the government's authority." (Fox News, 10/10/17)
Pruitt's Clean Power Break. "The Trump Administration is giving the economy a boost with its deregulatory agenda, and the latest example comes Tuesday when Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt will propose to repeal the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan. Ending this power grab will uphold the letter of the law and restore cooperative federalism with the states." (The Wall Street Journal, 10/08/17)
An executive order was issued to rescind WOTUS. "President Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued an executive order to rescind or revise the 2015 Clean Water Rule: Definition of 'Waters of the United States.'" (Press Release, 02/28/17)
EPA's Scott Pruitt finalizes regulation blocking Obama's Waters of the US rule. "Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a finalized regulation Wednesday blocking the Obama administration's Waters of the U.S. rule. 'Today, EPA is taking action to reduce confusion and provide certainty to America's farmers and ranchers,' said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. 'The 2015 WOTUS rule developed by the Obama administration will not be applicable for the next two years, while we work through the process of providing long-term regulatory certainty across all 50 states about what waters are subject to federal regulation.'" (Washington Examiner, 01/31/18)
EPA's Scott Pruitt declares 'war on lead,' three years after Flint water crisis began. "EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has begun an effort to 'eradicate' lead poisoning from drinking water, more than three years after the crisis in Flint, Michigan, started. Pruitt hosted a meeting Jan. 8 for state and local officials at agency headquarters in Washington to obtain feedback on ways to update the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule, a federal mandate that dictates how communities test for lead in drinking water. It has not been revised in more than a decade. Participants are convinced Pruitt is committed to making the rule tougher as the main focus of his 'war on lead.'" (The Washington Examiner,
Pruitt's EPA awarded $100 million to upgrade drinking water in Flint, Michigan. "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today awarded a $100 million grant to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to fund drinking water infrastructure upgrades in Flint, Mich." (Press Release, 03/17/17)
Pruitt's EPA committed additional funds surround the Gold King Mine release, bringing the total to $29 million. "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has provided over $90,000 in additional reimbursements to five entities in Colorado and Utah for their costs incurred responding to the August 5, 2015, Gold King Mine release." (Press Release, 03/16/17)
Scott Pruitt says EPA "walked away" from Colorado after Gold King spill, commits to making Silverton clean up a priority. "Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt says his agency 'walked away' from Colorado after the Gold King Mine spill under the Obama administration, vowing Friday to make a federal cleanup of the Gold King and other abandoned mines around Silverton a priority. He also said he will re evaluate rejected damage claims -- totaling hundreds of millions of dollars -- made in the disaster's wake." (The Denver Post, 08/04/17)
DOUBLE-STANDARD ON EPA'S TRAVEL ...
Obama's EPA appointees spent as much, or more, on travel than Trump's Pruitt, data show. "'As the media continue to criticize Pruitt and his 'luxury' international travel, his expenses are nothing out of the ordinary or even lower - compared to previous EPA directors under the Obama administration, who avoided the
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criticism. "The double standard couldn't be more clear: Under Barack Obama's EPA the media chose not to report on expenditures to protect the EPA administrator for international travel or the costs of their trips/ Jahan Wilcox, an EPA spokesman, told the Washington Free Beacon. 'But under the Trump administration the costs to protect our government officials is somehow scandalous.' Lisa Jackson, who was Obama's EPA director between 2009 and 2013, spent more than $332,000 on airfare and security for four international trips, on average $83,000 per trip, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. She spent $64,963 for trips to Tel Aviv; $59,950 to Rio de Janeiro; $51,436 to Montreal; and $155,764 to Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai. Gina McCarthy, the agency's director between 2013 and 2017, embarked on 10 international trips, spending nearly $630,000 on airfare and security, on average $63,000 per trip. The documents revealed costs for McCarthy's journeys to Ghana ($68,382), Peru ($45,140), Tokyo ($74,738), Paris ($41,321), Dubai ($90,368), Tokyo ($67,703), Florence ($56,193), Vancouver ($62,247), Vietnam ($68,268), and Beijing ($55,385)." (Fox News, 03/22/18)
Anybody Recall The Media Looking At Gina McCarthy's Travel Expenses? "Scouring the pages of the usual mainstream media outlets, I'm simply failing to find any sort of outraged pieces about how much all those trips cost or asking why there was a need for security details to accompany the EPA chiefs. But ever since Donald Trump came to town it appears to be a subject of keen interest. It almost seems as if there's some deeper, hidden meaning here but I just can't put my finger on it." (Hot Air, 03/22/18)
OBAMA'S EPA ITEMS THE PRESS RARELY COVERED ...
Former EPA chief under fire for new batch of 'Richard Windsor' emails. "Critics are leaping on private emails from the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency that seem to show her using the alias of 'Richard Windsor' to communicate with people outside the government. Messages released Wednesday show former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson using the Windsor email account to talk with people who would later serve in the Obama administration." (The Hill, 05/01/13)
EPA Employee Downloaded 7,000 Files Of Porn At Work And Watched Them 2-6 Hours A Day. "An employee at the Environmental Protection Agency allegedly downloaded over 7,000 files of pornography on a government computer and watched them two to six hours per day, the agency's investigative unit revealed Wednesday. 'When an OIG special agent arrived at this employee's work space to conduct an interview, the special agent witnessed the employee actively viewing pornography on his government-issued computer,' Allan Williams, deputy assistant inspector general for investigations at the EPA, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. 'Subsequently, the employee confessed to spending, on average, between two and six hours per day viewing pornography while at work,' he added. The improper conduct emerged as a result of a broader investigation into the agency following the 2013 conviction of senior EPA official John Beale, who falsely claimed to have been working for the CIA and defrauded the agency out of almost $900,000 in pay and benefits. The employee's identity has not yet been released pending an ongoing Justice Department investigation, but he is still on the government's payroll earning about $120,000 per year." (The Huffington Post, 05/07/14)
The Trump administration is ending a program which subsidizes gym memberships for Environmental Protection Agency employees. "'We have ended taxpayer-funded fitness centers at EPA; a program that was costing American taxpayers $900,000 per year,' EPA spokesperson Jahan Wilcox told CNN in a statement. 'Disinvestment in using federal funds for EPA fitness centers will allow the agency to invest this money in core activities to protect the environment.' An EPA official told CNN that the move came after EPA employees in Las Vegas billed the agency $15,000 worth of yearly gym memberships at the Las Vegas 24 Hour Fitness, even though they had free access to the University of Las Vegas gym. The 24 Hour Fitness chain has more than five
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locations in Las Vegas, which offer varying amenities like indoor lap pool, steam room, sauna, group exercise classes and a full-sized basketball court." (CNN. 06/19/17)
James Hewitt Environmental Protection Agency Press Secretary
Ex. 6
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