EPA rife with green conflicts of interest
By Mark Tapscott | September 16, 2014 | 5:00 am
Numerous senior officials of the Environmental Protection Agency have real or apparent "revolving door" conflicts of interest, according to a new report by a nonprofit watchdog.
"Example after example clearly show that senior leadership in the EPA, made up exclusively of career bureaucrats and former, and likely future green group activists, operate on behalf of the green groups, and do so to the exclusion of other legitimate stakeholders and the public at large," said Christopher C. Horner.
Horner is the lead author of "Improper collusion between environmental pressure groups and the Environmental Protection Agency." The document is described by its publisher as an "interim report."
The report was made public Monday by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute, a nonprofit educational foundation that focuses on using the federal Freedom of Information Act to encourage greater transparency in federal environmental policies.
The report is based on hundreds of emails and other documents the group — sometimes working in conjunction with another nonprofit, the Competitive Enterprise Institute — obtained from EPA under the FOIA, frequently after extensive litigation.
Federal law requires officials with real or apparent conflicts of interest to recuse themselves from policy or regulatory processes involving companies or special interest groups with which they were associated prior to entering government service.
As an example, the report pointed to former EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz.
"Armendariz prominently listed himself as a 'technical advisor' to WildEarth Guardians while he was a professor at Southern Methodist University," the report said.
"Emails E&E Legal obtained show Armendariz in continuous contact and frequently meeting with former client WEG in the person of Jeremy Nichols," according to the report.
"It is clear both by numerous allusions in the emails, as well as Nichols’ position as director of WEG’s climate and energy program, that the regularly discussed energy issues related to EPA’s role in regulating coal and energy production/use."
When Armendariz left EPA in 2012 after a video became public showing him telling an environmental group about his preference for "crucifying" fossil fuel industry representatives, he accepted a position at the Sierra Club.
Other EPA officials discussed in the report as having real or apparent conflicts of interest include:
• Nancy Stoner, interim assistant administrator of water. Formerly worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
• Glenn Paulson, chief scientist. Formerly worked for the NRDC.
• Michael L. Goo, associate administrator for the Office of Policy. Formerly worked for the NRDC.
• Bob Perciasepe, deputy administrator. Formerly worked for the National Audubon Society.
• Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance. Formerly worked for the Conservation Law Foundation's Advocacy Center.
• Michelle J. DePass, assistant administrator for the office of international and tribal affairs. Formerly worked for the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance.
• Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for solid waste. Former spokesman for the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance.
• Curt Spalding, Region 1 director. Formerly worked for Save the Bay and Narragansett Bay Keeper.
• Judith A. Enck , Region 2 director. Formerly worked for New York PIRG and Environmental Advocates of New York.
• Susan Hedman, Region 5 director. Formerly worked for the Environmental Law and Policy Center and Center for Global Change.
• Karl Brooks, Region 7 Director. Formerly worked for the Idaho Conservation League.
• James B. Martin – Region 8 director. Formerly worked for the Environmental Defense Fund.
• Jared Blumenfeld – Region 9 director. Formerly worked for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, the NRDC and International Fund for Animal Welfare.
"There is a 'revolving door' between the EPA and the various environmental pressure groups, and senior EPA officials implement their bias and continue their close relationships with former colleagues, affording them an improper role in the regulatory and permitting processes," the report said.
"This report documents that the arrangement gives these green pressure groups unprecedented access and improper influence; the Obama EPA coordinates with these groups on policy, politics, public relations and all other related aspects of regulation," it said.
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