WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), ranking member on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the EPA’s budget; Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.); Michael Bennet (D-Colo.); Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.); and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) held a news conference to demand Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt respond to the many unanswered ethics questions that have been raised by taxpayers, congressional lawmakers, and even the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about Pruitt’s housing and travel arrangements.
“Scott Pruitt is supposed to be the administrator of the EPA – but he’s acting like the emperor of the swamp,” said Udall, who will be introducing a “Sense of the Senate” resolution calling for Pruitt’s resignation. “In his first year in office, Pruitt has tried to run the EPA like the rules simply don’t apply to him, brazenly violating the trust of the American people and the standards of his office. When I voted against confirming him, I knew Scott Pruitt would work to undermine environmental and public health protections. But his conduct in office has exceeded my wildest and worst fears. In his time as administrator, Scott Pruitt has greased the wheels for big polluters to attack clean air, clean water, and public health. He has misused taxpayer dollars while gifting himself fancy perks. He has terrorized staff at the EPA, driven out great institutional knowledge, and overridden the scientific advice of his agency experts and subverted scientific processes in a manner we have never seen. And, on top of this, he has had some of the worst ethical transgressions of the entire Trump administration – a truly monumental feat. The list of abuses keeps getting longer, and it’s time for Pruitt’s imperial tenure to end.”
“Just over a year ago, I warned my colleagues that Scott Pruitt would pose a serious threat to our clean air, clean water and public health. At every turn, though, he has been even worse than I imagined, not only on policy matters, but also with regard to his consistent ethical lapses and disregard for the American taxpayers,” said Carper. “When our top government officials fail to follow the rules, we in Congress have a constitutional duty to hold them accountable and get to the truth. Oversight shouldn’t only be important when a democrat is in the White House. My Republican colleagues have an obligation to hold Scott Pruitt to the same standards we have seen during past administrations.”
“EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has not only taken policy actions that endanger our environment and our children’s health—his personal actions have destroyed the standards of ethical conduct and morality within Washington. President Trump ought to fire Administrator Pruitt or accept his resignation.” said Schumer. “President Trump and Republicans have turned a blind eye to Administrator Pruitt’s malfeasances because of his anti-regulatory agenda that serves only big corporations as opposed to protecting the health and keeping the trust of the American public. They have made it crystal clear who they serve, and it’s not the American people.”
“The people of Colorado, and all Americans, deserve an EPA administrator who at the very least recognizes science and believes in climate change,” Bennet said. “Scott Pruitt is not that leader, and his actions warrant ethical concern. Not only has he failed to implement the EPA’s mission and to protect our children’s health, but his senseless roll back of regulations is holding back American companies from competing in the global economy. Coloradans have voiced their concerns with the quality of our air and water, while Administrator Pruitt continues to stand with polluters. For all these reasons, I am calling for his resignation.”
“Scott Pruitt’s leadership of the EPA has made the agency as toxic as a Superfund site,” Markey said. “It is impossible to have any confidence in Scott Pruitt to lead this agency. Scott Pruitt’s mismanagement of the EPA, its mission, his intimidation of scientists, and his insistence in undermining good policies that protect lives is unacceptable. Now with ethical questions emerging around his abuse of power and position, it is time for Scott Pruitt to go.”
“From his tenure as Oklahoma’s Attorney General, it was clear that Scott Pruitt plays fast and loose with propriety when it serves the oil and gas industry. That pattern has continued unabated at the EPA,” said Merkley. “In addition, the flood of revelations in the last few weeks makes clear that he is consumed by self-aggrandizement and that he is abusing his position in order to serve himself, not the American people. He should be thoroughly investigated, and if he won’t resign, President Trump should fire him immediately.”
The senators asked Pruitt to provide information and documents about:
- the $50 a night room he rented from the wife of a lobbyist,
- the thousands of dollars in travel perks he has received,
- the deployment of EPA enforcement officers to provide round-the-clock security detail,
- the construction of a $43,000 “privacy booth” in his office,
- and actions he has taken to help lobbyist friends and campaign donors at the expense of the health and safety of American children.
