Climate Change and the Environment

Congressional Safe Climate Caucus Co-Chairs Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) and Don Beyer (VA-08) released the following statement on the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s decision to initiate U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement: “It has been one year since Donald Trump announced that he would withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, and he… Read more »

As the growing number of investigations into EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s misconduct makes the President’s ongoing decision not to fire him look more ridiculous by the day, Pruitt last week found new ways to disgrace his public office: AP: “Guards barred an AP reporter from passing through a security checkpoint inside the building. When the reporter asked to speak to an EPA… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on the news that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s spending on personal security and travel during his first year in office was $3.5 million, a number significantly higher than previously disclosed: “Everything Scott Pruitt said about his wasteful spending turned out to be false,” said Rep. Beyer. “Internal EPA documents show that he… Read more »

Think Progress Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has spent $3.5 million in taxpayer dollars on personal security in just his first year in the position, CBS News revealed Friday. This is far more than his two predecessors from the Obama administration, who CBS News says spent between $1.6 to $2 million annually on security. EPA spokesman Jahan… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today led a group of five House Democratic leaders requesting information from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) about Pruitt’s legal defense fund. Pruitt confirmed the existence of the fund to Senators in a hearing last week, but key details have not yet been made public or provided to Congress, which potentially raises a… Read more »

The Hill House Democrats on Thursday sent letters to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt and the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) requesting information on a legal defense fund set up by Pruitt to defend himself in the midst of multiple scandals. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, and a… Read more »

Scott Pruitt today admitted in a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to violating federal regulations when he accepted the services of his direct subordinate, Millan Hupp, without paying her [exchange here]. Hupp assisted Pruitt in his housing search last year, Pruitt confirmed, without pay, a violation of the Code of Federal Regulations (administrative law governing federal… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s “Back to Basics” memo instructing the EPA to begin factoring “economic effects” into its decisions on setting clean air standards: “Scott Pruitt’s latest attempt to undermine air pollution standards set by the Clean Air Act is illegal and immoral. The only ‘basics’ that his actions would take us ‘back… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on the reported resignation of John Konkus, the EPA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Public Affairs: “Scott Pruitt’s toxicity has infected the upper echelons of EPA leadership, and the process of cleaning this mess must begin with Pruitt’s dismissal,” said Rep. Beyer. “Mr. Konkus’ tenure at EPA was emblematic of the way that special… Read more »

Bloomberg The fourth departure this week of an Environmental Protection Agency official was announced on Friday, in a move suggesting continued fallout from the controversies swirling around Administrator Scott Pruitt.     John Konkus, the agency’s deputy associate administrator for public affairs, is leaving to lead communications at the Small Business… Read more »