Understanding Pruitt’s Disastrous Legacy at the EPA

FEATURING MARY ANNE HITT – Scott Pruitt was once considered the most inappropriate person to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) given that he had sued more than a dozen times to undermine it. That prediction came horribly true and today we’ll examine his disastrous legacy as well as the person set to replace him

In addition to gutting public safety standards, Pruitt was forced to resign primarily because he blatantly turned the EPA into a cash cow for himself and his family. From the infamous $43,000 private phone booth in his office, to the fishy cheap condo rental from a lobbyist in DC, the hefty pay raises for aides about which he lied, the abuse of his position to get his wife a high-paying job, and the tens of thousands of tax payer dollars spent flying First Class, and more, journalists have even said they’ve “lost count,” of the scandals.

In May the Sierra Club obtained tens of thousands of internal documents through the Freedom of Information Act showing so much rampant corruption at the EPA under Pruitt that the organization’s Executive Director Michael Brune concluded, “Scott Pruitt doesn’t live in the swamp — he is the swamp — and he should resign, or be fired immediately.”

Sadly Pruitt’s replacement, the coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler could be even worse for the EPA and the nation as a whole.

For more information visit www.sierraclub.org, www.beyondcoal.org, www.bootpruitt.com, and follow Mary Anne’s twitter @maryannehitt.

Mary Anne Hitt, Director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign.

**This segment was originally broadcast on July 9, 2018.