Nearly 800 Former EPA Staffers Sign Letter Opposing Scott Pruitt

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: HUFFINGTON POST

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nearly-800-former-epa-staffers-sign-letter-opposing-scott-pruitt_us_58a5cecfe4b037d17d258aae

By Sebastian Murdock


Hundreds of former Environmental Protection Agency officials have signed a letter in protest of Scott Pruitt’s nearing confirmation as EPA Administrator.

The letter, put together by the nonprofit group Environmental Integrity Project, was signed by 773 former EPA staffers, including scientists, engineers and attorneys. The EIP sent the letter to the Senate, where members could confirm Pruitt as early as Friday, the organization said in a statement.

“Pruitt, a close ally of the oil and gas industry, has made a career of suing EPA and attacking the idea of federal action to reduce pollution – while simultaneously failing to enforce environmental laws in his own state and shutting down the Environmental Protection Unit in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office,” the EIP said in the statement.

As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA more than a dozen times. He is a climate change denier whose own LinkedIn page refers to himself as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda.”

In a January confirmation hearing, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) asked Pruitt if “there is any safe level of lead that can be taken into the human body.”

“Senator, that is something I have not reviewed nor know about,” Pruitt replied. (The answer is no).

Ellen Spitalnik was a former EPA attorney who served both Republican and Democratic administrations from 1980 to 2002. She signed the letter in opposition to President Donald Trump’s pick.

“My life’s work is protecting public health and the environment, so I must speak out against this unqualified extremist,” Spitalnik said in a statement. “Pruitt represents what we environmental lawyers call an ‘imminent and substantial endangerment’ to our health and environment. He threatens the very integrity of EPA and must not be allowed to continue shutting down environmental enforcement, disregarding science and putting private interests above public good.”

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST...

[Frank Cannon]

Ellen Spitalnik was a former EPA attorney who served both Republican and Democratic administrations from 1980 to 2002.

This Leftist rag tries to paint this broad as a moderate thinking person. She is not. She is a full blown Commie Pink. I suspect the rest of this list are a bunch of elitist tree huggers as well.

[Right_in_Virginia]

More good news  ^-^

[Bigun]

Good! More confirmation that he is the man for the job!

[Hondo69]

Former Staffers????

I thought Fascism was a booming business.

[Emjay]

Ellen Spitalnik was a former EPA attorney who served both Republican and Democratic administrations from 1980 to 2002.

This Leftist rag tries to paint this broad as a moderate thinking person. She is not. She is a full blown Commie Pink. I suspect the rest of this list are a bunch of elitist tree huggers as well.

Those outraged staffers are probably terrified they may end up having to work for a living.

[Smokin Joe]

Those outraged staffers are probably terrified they may end up having to work for a living.

Those are former staffers. The ones still in the agency will continue to be ecowhacko moles or will comply with the policies of the current administration.

[r9etb]

Those are former staffers.

And thus their political statement is cost-free.

[Smokin Joe]

And thus their political statement is cost-free.

Yep. The current ones will keep their mouths shut and, if so inclined, quietly sabotage policy changes from the inside.

[Fishrrman]

Smokin Joe wrote:
"The current ones will keep their mouths shut and, if so inclined, quietly sabotage policy changes from the inside."

There's a VERY simple way to guarantee that won't happen.

But no one else on this forum -- or anywhere else -- realizes what it is, and how easily it can be achieved...

[Suppressed]

Yep. The current ones will keep their mouths shut and, if so inclined, quietly sabotage policy changes from the inside.

The ones I know have been telling the regulated community to get applications and documents in ASAP, since they don't know how much things will be delayed if there are cuts.  Unfortunately,  a lot of the stuff can't be expedited much by EO...there are statutory requirements.

[Smokin Joe]

The ones I know have been telling the regulated community to get applications and documents in ASAP, since they don't know how much things will be delayed if there are cuts.  Unfortunately,  a lot of the stuff can't be expedited much by EO...there are statutory requirements.

Ultimately, it is up to Congress to reel in the "shall promulgate such rules and regulations" bit in all of their legislation. That clause is a carte blanche to go ape writing nonsense.

[Hondo69]

Ultimately, it is up to Congress to reel in the "shall promulgate such rules and regulations" bit in all of their legislation. That clause is a carte blanche to go ape writing nonsense.

Uh oh, we may have hit a brick wall if it is up to Congress.

[EC]

Uh oh, we may have hit a brick wall if it is up to Congress.

Put it in terms even Sheila Jackson Lee can understand:

Every rule written by an executive agency is a bit less power for Congress.

They will protect their own nest.

[catfish1957]

I dealt with these pukes at EPA professionally for over 30 years.

Believe me, if these pencil d__k's are against this nomination in these numbers......  Its a damn good choice by Trump.

[Smokin Joe]

Uh oh, we may have hit a brick wall if it is up to Congress.

They have been the problem all along. They don't want to do the work, become knowledgeable about the topics, and actually accept the responsibility for writing the rules themselves, so they punt that off to 'experts', some of whom are on a jihad for their pet cause and go apesh*t writing regulations and looking for more things to be powerful over.

Then there are the ones who 'fight' for some 'reasonable' standard, and if/when they win, run out of things to do, so they change the standard to something "more reasonable" and pick up their sword and shield and return to the fray.

The result is that they keep their jobs with a minimum of real effort and leave any tasked with complying with a regulation with a series of moving targets--a business killer.
But at the bottom of it all, people are protecting their phoney-baloney jobs and moving up a GS number or two before cashing out.

[Smokin Joe]

I dealt with these pukes at EPA professionally for over 30 years.

Believe me, if these pencil d__k's are against this nomination in these numbers......  Its a damn good choice by Trump.

I agree. He must be doing something right if all the wrong people hate him.

[Bigun]

They have been the problem all along. They don't want to do the work, become knowledgeable about the topics, and actually accept the responsibility for writing the rules themselves, so they punt that off to 'experts', some of whom are on a jihad for their pet cause and go apesh*t writing regulations and looking for more things to be powerful over.

Then there are the ones who 'fight' for some 'reasonable' standard, and if/when they win, run out of things to do, so they change the standard to something "more reasonable" and pick up their sword and shield and return to the fray.

The result is that they keep their jobs with a minimum of real effort and leave any tasked with complying with a regulation with a series of moving targets--a business killer.
But at the bottom of it all, people are protecting their phoney-baloney jobs and moving up a GS number or two before cashing out.

Hell man!  They don't even write the bills they pass!  The inside the beltway permanent staff K Street flunkies get to do that and you can bet your @$$ that it's never in favor of us peons out here in fly over country!

[r9etb]

I agree. He must be doing something right if all the wrong people hate him.

Then again, quite a lot of the right people dislike him, too....

My problem with Trump isn't that he's pushing back on things that need pushing back on.  It's that he does things rashly, in ways that will force him to backtrack, and he defends his position poorly, if at all.

It's not reality TV anymore, but that's how he's treating the presidency.

[Frank Cannon]

Then again, quite a lot of the right people dislike him, too....

My problem with Trump isn't that he's pushing back on things that need pushing back on.  It's that he does things rashly, in ways that will force him to backtrack, and he defends his position poorly, if at all.

It's not reality TV anymore, but that's how he's treating the presidency.

Who are these "right" people who dislike him? McCain? The President of Mexico?

[Smokin Joe]

Then again, quite a lot of the right people dislike him, too....

My problem with Trump isn't that he's pushing back on things that need pushing back on.  It's that he does things rashly, in ways that will force him to backtrack, and he defends his position poorly, if at all.

It's not reality TV anymore, but that's how he's treating the presidency.

That he is impetuous to a fault (literally) has been noted for some time. If he's going to backtrack, he needs to overreach more--like the democrats do. Go for twice as much as you want then negotiate to where you wanted to be and any excess is gravy. But wait, we've been told he's a businessman and a negotiator, you'd think he'd have the 101 stuff down.

[r9etb]

But wait, we've been told he's a businessman and a negotiator, you'd think he'd have the 101 stuff down.

The problem is that as a businessman he's the boss: for better or worse everybody has to do what he says or face the consequences.

When the leader of a country behaves as Trump behaved as a businessman, we call it something different.

Trump may or may not be able to learn the difference between the two.  We can only hope he does; unfortunately, the signs so far aren't terribly encouraging.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

The problem is that as a businessman he's the boss: for better or worse everybody has to do what he says or face the consequences.

When the leader of a country behaves as Trump behaved as a businessman, we call it something different.

Trump may or may not be able to learn the difference between the two.  We can only hope he does; unfortunately, the signs so far aren't terribly encouraging.

Exactly what do you mean?  He most decidedly does NOT have the power to order "everybody" around, like Congress, Judicial, the press, or citizens, anymore than a CEO orders around customers outside the company.

However, he is vested with 100% of the Executive power in this country, and can delegate that power to almost whoever he wishes or dismiss whoever in Executive he wishes.

Are you suggesting that the power of the Executive is not his to exercise or that he is actually in control of more than his Executive branch?

[dfwgator]

I dealt with these pukes at EPA professionally for over 30 years.

Believe me, if these pencil d__k's are against this nomination in these numbers......  Its a damn good choice by Trump.

When I picture the typical EPA agent, I always think of d@ckless, from Ghostbusters..

[MajorClay]

Former staffers?  It would be a shame if something happened to their retirements.