White House, EPA headed off chemical pollution study

[homersapien 11,352]

Another opportunity for Trump supporters to voice their support for contaminated water.  MAGA!

The intervention by Scott Pruitt’s aides came after one White House official warned the findings would cause a ‘public relations nightmare.'

Scott Pruitt’s EPA and the White House sought to block publication of a federal health study on a nationwide water-contamination crisis, after one Trump administration aide warned it would cause a "public relations nightmare," newly disclosed emails reveal.

The intervention early this year — not previously disclosed — came as HHS' Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry was preparing to publish its assessment of a class of toxic chemicals that has contaminated water supplies near military bases, chemical plants and other sites from New York to Michigan to West Virginia.

“The public, media, and Congressional reaction to these numbers is going to be huge,” one unidentified White House aide said in an email forwarded on Jan. 30 by James Herz, a political appointee who oversees environmental issues at the OMB. The email added: “The impact to EPA and [the Defense Department] is going to be extremely painful. We (DoD and EPA) cannot seem to get ATSDR to realize the potential public relations nightmare this is going to be.”

More than three months later, the draft study remains unpublished, and the HHS unit says it has no scheduled date to release it for public comment. Critics say the delay shows the Trump administration is placing politics ahead of an urgent public health concern — something they had feared would happen after agency leaders like Pruitt started placing industry advocates in charge of issues like chemical safety.

Details of the internal discussions emerged from EPA emails released to the Union of Concerned Scientists under the Freedom of Information Act. The still-unreleased study would show that the chemicals endanger human health at a far lower level than EPA has previously called safe, according to the emails.

Read the rest at: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/14/emails-white-house-interfered-with-science-study-536950

 

[SaltyTiger 7,761]

The media's biggest target after Trump is Pruitt, the president's most effective cabinet secretary. Ousting him would be a huge victory for Trump's opponents.

http://thefederalist.com/2018/04/04/scott-pruitt-is-trumps-biggest-asset-thats-why-the-left-wants-him-gone/

[TitanTiger 20,468]

3 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

The media's biggest target after Trump is Pruitt, the president's most effective cabinet secretary. Ousting him would be a huge victory for Trump's opponents.

http://thefederalist.com/2018/04/04/scott-pruitt-is-trumps-biggest-asset-thats-why-the-left-wants-him-gone/

What does this have to do with the substance of the article in the original post?

[SaltyTiger 7,761]

9 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

What does this have to do with the substance of the article in the original post?

Every article written about the deal boils down to email found noting PR nightmare and HHS has not set draft publish date as yet. The media does love to bash Scott Pruitt.

Another opportunity for Trump supporters to voice their support for contaminated water.  MAGA!

[TitanTiger 20,468]

1 minute ago, SaltyTiger said:

Every article written about the deal boils down to email found noting PR nightmare and HHS has not set draft publish date as yet. The media does love to bash Scott Pruitt.

Another opportunity for Trump supporters to voice their support for contaminated water.  MAGA!

Do you have any articles that would undermine or cast doubt on the contentions it makes?  Simply saying "they're out to get him" isn't really a response.

[SaltyTiger 7,761]

39 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

Do you have any articles that would undermine or cast doubt on the contentions it makes?  Simply saying "they're out to get him" isn't really a response.

Then I suppose it is not really a response. Of course I am not buying into a huge crisis being " blocked" per the article. 

[TitanTiger 20,468]

2 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

Then I suppose it is not really a response. Of course I am not buying into a huge crisis being " blocked" per the article. 

So these emails they're reading from are all just made up?  Fake news?

[SaltyTiger 7,761]

7 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

So these emails they're reading from are all just made up?  Fake news?

I did not say that. 

[TitanTiger 20,468]

6 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

I did not say that. 

So what are you saying?  All I'm seeing so far is a suggestion that it's merely a way to take shots at Pruett and that you don't believe the report is being blocked.

[SaltyTiger 7,761]

13 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

So what are you saying?  All I'm seeing so far is a suggestion that it's merely a way to take shots at Pruett and that you don't believe the report is being blocked.

I never said I did not think the report was not being "blocked". I did say I am not sold on a huge crisis being "blocked". I would hope the information in the study is be further analyzed or reviewed. Regardless, another good crisis and scandal for the anti Trump Administration crowd. 

[homersapien 11,352]

1 hour ago, TitanTiger said:

Do you have any articles that would undermine or cast doubt on the contentions it makes?  Simply saying "they're out to get him" isn't really a response.

He knows even less about the history of Scott Pruitt than he does of Donald Trump.

[homersapien 11,352]

In Senate Hot Seat, Scott Pruitt Dodges Questions Over Mounting Scandals

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scott-pruitt-ethics-grilling-senate-hearing_us_5afc552ce4b06a3fb50cc41e

“Your tenure at the EPA is a betrayal of the American people,” Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on the committee, told Pruitt in the hearing. “I’m worried you are spending all your time enriching yourself and your friends while betraying your mission to protect human health and the environment.”