After almost 60,000 pages of documents from Scott Pruitt’s EPA turned over to the Sierra Club via FOIA litigation, extensive media coverage on scandals those records, thousands and thousands of public comments and actions urging Pruitt’s resignation, dozens of rallies in Oklahoma and beyond, and successful engagement by the #BootPruitt coalition nationwide, Pruitt has finally resigned as EPA Administrator.
The Sierra Club’s members and supporters--more than 3 million strong and counting--have kept pressure on Pruitt from the start, way back from when we sent out our first statement upon his nomination in late 2016. Since then, we’ve run ads pressuring senators to avoid the headache and reject Pruitt’s nomination, we ran ads on Fox and Friends and in Oklahoma highlighting his dangerous record and corruption, rallied in Oklahoma and beyond, and gathered more than 100,000 comments opposing Pruitt. We even launched Pruitt-Zinke Airlines to highlight those first headlines about Pruitt’s taxpayer-funded luxury travel around the world.
We won’t let up on the pressure for a moment. The Sierra Club will work diligently to ensure that the next EPA Administrator restores public trust in the agency and acts to let the agency fulfill its mission, rather than gut the laws that keep our families safe just to help corporate polluters. A coal lobbyist dogged by ethical questions like Andrew Wheeler - the acting EPA Administrator - is not the person to do that. He’s already made headlines over ethical scandals. Shortly before being confirmed as Deputy EPA Administrator, he hosted fundraisers for senators voting on his nomination. He even has backed the racist talking head Milo Yiannopoulos. Over the weeks and months to come, we will remind senators of these facts every step of the way.
All of the energy and passion that went into #BootPruitt will continue, focused on this mission. We’ll continue our advocacy. We’ll continue our aggressive communications operation. We’ll continue to mobilize members and supporters all over the country. We’ll continue our legal work to ensure transparency and accountability in government, while protecting public health and natural resources. And, in particular, the Sierra Club’s FOIA work will not stop unearthing more documents from EPA that will provide the public with a clear picture of just for whom the EPA is working.
Already, tens of thousands of pages of documents produced in response to our FOIA litigation helped illustrate that Pruitt was working solely for himself and for corporate polluters. Below you can find just a partial list of those Pruitt scandals in which documents obtained by the Sierra Club played a role. More importantly moving forward, the FOIA documents we’ve obtained already help paint a clear picture of who Andrew Wheeler is and what his priorities are. His ethical challenges and close relationships with the same corporate polluters who pulled Scott Pruitt’s strings show that the Senate should look elsewhere for an EPA Administrator -- one who can start rebuilding EPA in the wake of Pruitt’s dangerous and corrupt tenure and start restoring the agency to its mission faithfully to protect clean air, clean water, the health of our families, and the environment.
Three Things We Know About Andrew Wheeler from FOIA
1. Wheeler Campaigned Against Trump Despite Trump’s assurances to himself, Wheeler was NOT a Trump supporter in 2016, as was confirmed in emails obtained by Sierra Club’s FOIA. As the Washington Post wrote in April, Wheeler was an advisor for Marco Rubio who said Trump “doesn’t know how government works” and said Trump was not a “successful businessman” and a “bully.”
2. He Tried to Cozy Up to Scott Pruitt While Seeking Deputy Nomination While he was a lobbyist for corporate polluters and being considered for the Deputy EPA Administrator position, Wheeler courted Pruitt numerous times with invitations to events, according to Sierra Magazine, shattering traditional expectations for a potential nominee.
3. He Really, Really Likes Money. In an exchange with Pruitt’s chief deputy about Wheeler’s pending nomination to be Deputy Administrator, Wheeler was pretty clear. But are we talking $1,500 in pens here?
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SIERRA CLUB’S FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT & GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY WORK
Looking Back:
Here are just some of the stories in which Sierra Club’s FOIA’d documents played a role:
E.P.A. Emails Show an Effort to Shield Pruitt From Public Scrutiny
Pruitt had his aides use staff time to secure a Chick-fil-a franchise for his wife
Pruitt had his aides look into purchasing a used Trump Hotel Mattress for his apartment
Pruitt considered hiring a family friend of his lobbyist landlord
Pruitt got climate tips from groups backed by GOP megadonors
Pruitt continued to enlist his aides in his wife’s job search,
There was more to Pruitt’s sweetheart condo deal than we knew
Scott Pruitt made a recruiting ‘plea’ to top executives at the American Petroleum Institute
Ex-Lobbyist for Foreign Governments Helped Plan a Pruitt Trip to Australia
Scott Pruitt Used a Military Helicopter to Visit a Coal Mine
Scott Pruitt’s Rome Trip: More Time on Tourism Than Official Business.
A Lobbyist initially paid for Pruitt’s meal at a separate fancy restaurant in Rome
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.