Trump Budget Proposal Would Re-Assign 10 Agency Investigators from Jobs Stopping Pollution to 24/7 Guards and Escorts for Administrator
Washington, D.C. – The Environmental Integrity Project today sent a letter to EPA’s Office of the Inspector General requesting an investigation into whether the Trump Administration is misusing taxpayer money by vastly increasing the security detail of the new EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt.
In a proposed EPA budget document recently posted online by The Washington Post, Pruitt would reassign 10 criminal investigators in EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance “to provide 24/7 security detail for the Administrator.”
That would more than double the size of the current security detail, while removing ten more agents from a staff of 170 criminal environmental investigators that will shrink even further under proposed budget cuts.
Former Administrator Gina McCarthy and her predecessors typically just had “door to door” security to guard them only as they traveled from their homes to EPA headquarters, or to official meetings (including trips outside Washington DC).
“Former Administrator Gina McCarthy was threatened with impeachment, charged with ‘treason,’ and called every name in the book by right-wing extremists and internet trolls. The taxpayers ought to know why Scott Pruitt needs a bodyguard squad more than twice as big as the one she had,” said Eric Schaeffer, the Environmental Integrity Project’s Director and former head of EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement.
The proposed boost in spending on Pruitt’s security detail comes at a time when the Trump Administration is proposing to cut overall funding for EPA by 31 percent next year by eliminating 3,200 positions and more than 50 programs, including the Chesapeake Bay and Great Lakes cleanups.
“President Trump’s proposal to cut EPA by nearly a third is bad enough,” Schaeffer said. “What can possibly justify removing ten more criminal investigators from the front lines just to build up the Administrator’s personal security detail?”
According to the webpage for the EPA Inspector General’s hotline, “Waste involves the taxpayers not receiving a reasonable value for money in connection with any government-funded activities due to an inappropriate act or omission. Most waste does not involve a violation of law; rather, waste relates primarily to mismanagement, inappropriate actions, and inadequate oversight.”
In his request to the EPA Inspector General’s office, Schaeffer asked the investigators to examine what evidence suggests that potential threats to Pruitt’s personal safety are much greater than they were for his predecessor, who was relentlessly attacked on far-right websites and conspiracy blogs; whether a 24/7 security detail this large is justified; and the potential impact of reassigning 10 investigators to the agency’s ability to prosecute environmental crimes.
“These cuts and transfers away from enforcement could cripple EPA’s ability to bring big polluters to justice, and protect public health,” Schaeffer said. “EPA’s Inspector General really needs to investigate what is going on here, because the taxpayers deserve to know.”
The letter requesting a formal investigation was sent to the EPA Office of Inspector General this morning (May 11), with copies sent to U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Ben Cardin, and Chris Van Hollen; and U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin.
For a copy of the letter, click here.
The Environmental Integrity Project is a 15-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, based in Washington D.C., dedicated to enforcing environmental laws and holding polluters and governments accountable to protect public health.
Media contact: Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project (202) 888-2703 or tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org
