Trey Pollard trey.pollard@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Scott Pruitt’s schedule is packed with meetings with the fossil fuel industry and chemical companies, according to hundreds of pages of his schedule uncovered by open records requests filed by the nonprofit group American Oversight. According to reporting by the New York Times, the revelations “for the first time, create a direct link between Mr. Pruitt’s meetings and actions that the industry wants him to take.” Among the lowlights of Pruitt’s schedule:
A trip to the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, FL for a speech to the National Mining Association
A trip to the Phoenician Golf Resort in Scottsdale, AZ for a speech to the National Association of Manufacturers
Numerous meetings with auto manufacturers seeking to gut vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards.
Meetings with a pesticides trade group the day after Pruitt overruled scientists calling for a ban on chlorpyrifos, a chemical known to cause disabilities in children.
The New York Times asserts that “Industry executives and conservative activists often scored meetings to press Mr. Pruitt to kill or modify Obama-era climate change regulations, particularly the so-called Clean Power Plan” while “William K. Reilly, the E.P.A. administrator under the first President George Bush, described the level of meetings between Mr. Pruitt and industry executives as unusual….He said Mr. Pruitt’s history of suing the E.P.A. should have prompted him to meet regularly with public health advocates and environmentalists.”
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:
"There is a reason Scott Pruitt tried so hard to keep his schedule secret: it is an indictment of his total failure to do the job he was sworn to do. When he is not taking expensive private flights on the taxpayers’ dime, Pruitt’s time in office has been spent almost exclusively meeting with wealthy executives from the country’s most toxic industries and then doing their bidding by gutting clean air and water safeguards. Even to this Administration, Pruitt is a dangerous embarrassment, and he should be removed from office before he endangers any more lives with his transparently pro-polluter agenda."
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.