Thomas Young, Deputy Press Secretary, thomas.young@sierraclub.org
SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- New reporting from POLITICO (see here and here) found that Utah Governor Gary Herbert copied talking points provided by an oil and gas industry lobbyist nearly verbatim in a letter Herbert sent to the EPA requesting an exemption from safeguards that control the amount of life-threatening smog pollution in local air.
The stunning revelations arose in a report about scandal-ridden EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s office working hand-in-hand with an oil and gas lobbyist to prevent those safeguards from being applied in Utah’s Uinta Basin -- an area that is already documented as having unhealthy levels of smog pollution. Emails revealed by the Sierra Club’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation found that Pruitt’s office worked with the lobbyist to gut those public health safeguards. This story also revealed that the same lobbyist used U.S. Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) to deliver these same talking points in conversations with Pruitt.
Politico reporter Emily Holden contrasted those lobbyist-authored talking points with Governor Herbert’s letter from July 18 of 2017 to find that they were nearly identical. Entire paragraphs were lifted from the lobbyist talking points and copy-and-pasted nearly wholesale into Herbert’s letter, raising serious questions about how Herbert’s office is relying on special interest corporate lobbyists to influence his policy positions and do the job voters entrusted him to do.
Removing safeguards for ground-level ozone (smog) pollution, would result in chronic asthma, respiratory and lung disease, heart disease, and even premature deaths in vulnerable communities. According to the American Lung Association, Uintah County already has a grade of “F” for air quality due to excessive smog pollution, and over 700 kids and 2000 adults suffer from asthma in the area.
Marc Thomas, Sierra Club Utah Chapter Executive Committee Member and Glen Canyon Group Chair, responded with the following statement:
"This is crystal clear evidence that Governor Herbert shamelessly and directly took marching orders from corporate polluters to make the air our kids breathe even dirtier. Voters didn’t vote to put an oil lobbyist in the Governor’s mansion, but the lobbyists are apparently doing Herbert’s job for him and our kids are going to get sick as a result. This abuse of the public trust must be investigated, as Utahns now have to ask which other policies of Governor Herbert’s are covered in the dirty fingerprints of corporate lobbyists."
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.