PRUITT BLAMES STAFF: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt is again blaming the agency’s career staff, as well as the political left, for his recent spate of controversies.
In an interview on a Washington Free Beacon podcast, Pruitt said many of the most high-profile spending or ethics controversies involving him in recent months, like those involving his $43,000 secure phone booth and his frequent first-class travel, have been the fault of career staff.
“Some of the things that have been in the media are decisions made by career staff, processes that were at the agency that there weren’t proper checks and balances. So I’ve actually made changes at the agency,” Pruitt told the conservative news outlet, pointing to a recent memo that asked three of his top aides to review any expenditures made on Pruitt’s behalf costing more than $5,000.
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“The whole secure phone system was not something I was involved with. I didn’t approve that,” he said. “And the same thing on travel. Different issues where I’m having to answer questions about decisions that others made. And that’s not an excuse, that’s just reality.”
But he said the political left and other opponents of his aggressive deregulatory agenda are also at fault, an argument he has put forth previously with other right-wing outlets.
“This has been a bastion of the left for many years. This agency has been a safe haven in advancing against certain sectors of our economy,” he said.
“And to change that creates a lot of controversy, creates a lot of division, creates a lot of uncomfortableness with those who have grown comfortable with the agency over the years and grown comfortable with the way the agency does business. So I think that’s contributed to this.”
Why it matters: Pruitt has mentioned career staff and the left before as culprits in his scandals.
In recent congressional hearings, for example, he blamed either career or political staff for his phone booth, security, travel, raises to close aides and more. The closest he got to apologizing himself was to say that he wouldn’t have done things the same or that the right processes weren’t in place.
The left was an early culprit in interviews he conducted, particularly with conservative media, after the issues came to light.
Now Pruitt is doubling down on this strategy, and it appears that this is what he’s most comfortable with.
Happy Wednesday! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@digital-release.thehill.com, and Miranda Green, mgreen@digital-release.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @mirandacgreen, @thehill
EX-OBAMA EPA CHIEF TO LEAD NEW CENTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy is leading a newly launched center at Harvard University that will focus on climate change and policy.
McCarthy, who served under former President Obama from 2013 to 2017, will lead the university’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE), first introduced Wednesday.
In her role there, the former EPA head will help the center, which is part of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, ensure that government and business officials have access to the best science to help them understand current health and environmental challenges.
“Climate change isn’t about saving the planet and it’s not about politics, it’s about our kids and making sure they have the opportunity for a healthy, sustainable world,” said McCarthy in a statement. “C-CHANGE will ensure that cutting-edge science produced by Harvard Chan School is actionable–that the public understands it, and that it gets into the hands of decision-makers so that science drives decisions.”
Why it’s noteworthy: McCarthy has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s handling of environmental regulations. Current EPA leadership has actively worked to rollback regulations she championed under Obama.
McCarthy, along with Janet McCabe, former acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, wrote a scathing critique of the EPA’s current chief, Scott Pruitt, in a New York Times op-ed in March, warning that his crackdown on certain scientific studies could have long-term damaging effects on the agency.
“Don’t be fooled by this talk of transparency. He and some conservative members of Congress are setting up a nonexistent problem in order to prevent the EPA from using the best available science,” the two wrote.
Read more here.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES ON ROADS POISED TO TRIPLE: The number of electric vehicles on the road worldwide is set to triple by the end of the decade.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast that, given current policies around the world, 13 million electric vehicles will be on the road in 2020, compared with 3.7 million just last year.
Sales could increase 24 percent year-over-year through 2030.
“The policy-driven growth in [electric vehicle] sales underpins economies of scale and fosters technology development which reduces battery pack costs, increases opportunities to cut the purchase price of electric [vehicles] and to improve their performance,” the organization said Wednesday in its comprehensive report on the electric vehicle market and its future internationally.
The 3.7 million electric vehicles on the road last year, a figure that includes plug-in hybrid vehicles but excludes two- or three-wheelers, represents a 54 percent increase over 2016, IEA said.
About half of the electric vehicles sold in 2017, or 580,000, were in China. That country saw a 72 percent increase in sales.
We’ve got more on the report here.
OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY:
A feasibility study is warning against a proposal to construct a massive barrier in Boston Harbor to protect the city from floods, WBUR reports.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) is slamming Canada’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline project as “profoundly disturbing,” the Seattle Times reports.
Oil workers in Brazil started a 72-hour strike Wednesday to protest President Michel Temer, Reuters reports.
FROM THE OPINION SECTION:
Carolyn Kissane, a non-resident fellow at the Payne Institute for Earth Resources, says Russia’s influence on OPEC is growing.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out stories from Wednesday…
-Pruitt blames scandals on EPA staff, political left
-Ex-Obama EPA chief to lead new center for climate change at Harvard
-Green group backs Feinstein’s challenger in California Senate race
-AGs sue EPA over delay of requirement to protect farmworkers
-Electric vehicles on path to triple