EPA regional administrator Trey Glenn resigns to fight ‘unfounded charges’
In August of 2017, the former director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), Trey Glenn, was named the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 4 Administrator. On Monday, Glenn resigned from that post amid arrest in ongoing ethics investigation. “As you know, unfounded charges haves been levied against me that I must and will fight,” Glenn said in his resignation letter to EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Stepping down now, I hopes removes any distraction from you and all the great people who work at EPA as you carry out the Agency’s mission.” A grand jury indicted Glenn last week. On Thursday, he was arrested on criminal ethics for multiple violations of Alabama’s Ethics Act. He was booked into a Jefferson County jail in Birmingham before he was released on a $30,000 bond. Glenn’s history with Alabama As director of ADEM from 2005 – 2009, Glenn managed over 600 employees tasked with ensuring a safe, healthy, and productive environment to all Alabama residents. Prior to that he served as division director for the Alabama Office of Water Resources from 2001- 2005 where he was responsible for leading day-to-day operations on coordinating and managing Alabama’s water resources. Before to his post at the EPA, Glenn was working as an independent engineer consultant and business owner, focused on environmental issues. Then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt made the announcement of his appointment. “Trey Glenn will bring invaluable experience as regional administrator having spent over two decades working in the field of environmental and regulatory policy,” said Pruitt. “Mr. Glenn will help us carry out President Trump’s vision of creating a more streamlined and efficient EPA that focuses on the Agency’s core mission, while also providing more regulatory certainty to our nation’s businesses.” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey echoed Pruitt’s confidence in Glenn. “We are proud to have a person of Trey Glenn’s caliber leading such an important organization for our area. His experience as Director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management places him in a unique position to be prepared to work with these southern states,” said Ivey. “We are also especially glad to know someone with in-depth knowledge of Alabama will be overseeing our region. Our state looks forward to working closely with Trey and the EPA team to ensure the needs of the state are met and that we stay environmentally friendly.” Alabama’s Senior U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby said he believed Glenn was well-prepared for the new role. “As an accomplished environmental engineer from Alabama, Trey Glenn is well-prepared for this new role and challenge as the EPA Region 4 Administrator,” added Shelby. “Trey has a proven record of leveraging internal and external operations to advance clearly defined goals. Having served as the director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, he understands the value and importance of state authority and control. I am confident that Trey will provide respected leadership across the eight state region, while also promoting and protecting a strong and healthy environment.” Read Glenn’s full resignation below:
Regional EPA official turns himself in on state ethics charges
The Trump administration’s top environmental official for the Southeast has been arrested on Alabama state ethics charges related to a scheme to help a coal company avoid paying for a costly toxic waste cleanup. Trey Glenn was booked into a county jail in Birmingham on Thursday before being released on a $30,000 bond. Glenn was appointed last year as chief of the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in Atlanta, which oversees operations in eight states. Glenn is charged with multiple ethics violations stemming from his prior work as a coal-industry consultant opposing federal Superfund cleanup efforts. He resigned as director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management in 2009 following another ethics scandal. It was not clear if Glenn had an attorney. EPA spokesman John Konkus declined to comment. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Terri Sewell, Randall Woodfin weigh-in on Birmingham indictments surrounding EPA clean-up site
A Jefferson County grand jury on Tuesday indicted the Southeast regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a former Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) Commissioner for violating state ethics laws in his work to stop the listing of North Birmingham’s Superfund site on the EPA’s National Priorities List (NPL). The North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site consists of contaminated soil from industrial pollution. Alabama 7th District U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell believes the indictment is “a step in the right direction.” “This week’s indictment is a step in the right direction for residents of North Birmingham who were the victim of corruption and hazardous pollution,” Sewell said in a statement. “We still have work to do seeking justice for families whose homes and communities have been contaminated… North Birmingham should be reconsidered for the National Priority List. No family should have to live with a contaminated backyard, and no community should be left to clean up decades of industrial waste. We must continue fighting for a full cleanup of North Birmingham until our whole community is made safe.” In August, Sewell led a tour of the Superfund site along with Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and other city, state and neighborhood leaders. The site consists of contaminated soil from industrial pollution. Sewell, Woodfin, and Sen. Doug Jones have called on the EPA to consider North Birmingham for the NPL. According to EPA Region 4 Superfund Division Director Franklin Hill , the study site of roughly 2,000 properties revealed that 390 sites have undergone the contamination removal process; 127 sites are in need of treatment. “The corruption and the appearance of corruption has destroyed the public’s confidence in this process, which has hijacked efforts to clean up the North Birmingham community,” Woodfin added. “The people of North Birmingham deserve a transparent process in order to restore their community and the resources needed to make them and their neighborhoods whole.” History of the site According to EPA guidelines, a site may be included on the NPL if it scores 28.50 or greater on the agency’s Hazard Ranking System. The North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site scored a 50. On July 19, 2018, a federal jury convicted a coal executive and an attorney who represented the coal company in a criminal conspiracy to prevent the North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site from advancing to the NPL. On November 13, it was reported that EPA Southeastern regional office administrator Trey Glenn and a former business partner, Scott Phillips, were charged with multiple ethics violations in Birmingham in keeping the site off of the NPL.
EPA rethinking air pollution rule for power plants
The Trump administration is considering rewriting another Obama-era rule controlling hazardous emissions from coal-fired power plants, this one on mercury and other pollutants. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Molly Block said Wednesday that the agency is still preparing its proposal for consideration by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget and that there are few details to release. The EPA is looking at whether the 2012 rule on power plant emissions was necessary, among other issues, Block said. The Obama administration rule set limits for emissions of mercury, arsenic and other toxic air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said last year that almost all the country’s coal-fired power plants were now in compliance with the 2012 rule. Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware and Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee urged the EPA in a joint letter to keep the 2012 limits in place, saying the rules has cut mercury emissions from power plants by 90 percent. The EPA announced earlier this month that it was moving to relax federal oversight of emissions from coal-fired power plants under a separate Obama-era rule from 2015. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Rauf Bolden: Ecotourism as economic stimulus in Orange Beach
For many years, I have assured people that it is easy to be an expert on Orange Beach because there are really only two answers to any question you could ever be asked about it: “I don’t know” and “It depends.” While glib, this point is strikingly accurate. The public face of Orange Beach’s council system is highly transparent with meetings and work sessions in a public forum. Its inner workings and decision-making processes are shrouded in mystery, wondering about who is really making the decisions, rarely conforming to what any outsider might predict. Perhaps ecotourism’s economic value to this community is the galvanizing exception, making it priceless. “Ecotourism is considered the fastest growing market in the tourism industry,” according to the World Tourism Organization with an annual growth rate of 5% worldwide and representing 6 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, 11.4 percent of all consumer spending, bolstering local economies. Behavioral economists combine economics with insights from psychology to show how heavily economic decisions like ecotourism are influenced by cognitive biases, according to the Economist Magazine’s summary of Richard Thaler’s work. He is the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics. According to him our economic decisions are influenced by cognitive biases like ecotourism, influencing our decision to choose vacation cities that are eco-friendly. Environmental tourism began in Orange Beach after the Great Depression of 2008, being an inadvertently disguised format for economic stimulus, injecting government funds into the economy, bolstering the recovery, as John Maynard Keynes espoused. The City wrote grants to build the Backcountry Trail System, continually encouraging investment in offshore fisheries with artificial reefs and scuba diving, having ships demolished as underwater attractions, extending the red-snapper fishing season, using cognitive biases, ensuring vacationers understood we are pro-environment, promoting growth in the local economy. A Beach Ambassador Initiative was started. “Leave Only Footprints,” affects all aspects of beach life, erasing tents, chairs and paraphernalia from the beach at night, presenting a fresh canvas each morning for our visitors to enjoy, creating jobs in the economy. These emissaries had a busy season in 2016: Public Interactions: 51,124; Promotional Items Distributed: 20,439; Glass Warnings Issued: 3322; Tent Warnings Issued: 3285; Tents Tagged: 886; Hole Warnings: 1378; Holes Filled: 2170; Trash Warnings: 485; Trash Bags Distributed: 5689; Law Enforcement (Backup) Requests: 46; Fire/EMS/Rescue Requests: 14; Dog Issues/Encounters: 157; Wildlife Related Incidents: 88; Metal Shovel Warnings: 71, according to a representative from Orange Beach Coastal Resources in an email. Investing in ecotourism as a form of economic stimulus has strengthened economic growth in Orange Beach through active participation by our tourism partners: Alabama Department of Environmental Management, The Citizen and Visitors Bureau, The Orange Beach Chamber-of-Commerce, The Backcountry Trail Foundation, The Islands of Perdido Foundation, The Alabama Coastal Foundation and the Fishing Association, providing sustainable-business examples to build on. Perhaps economic stimulus was not the root concept of the initial plan, supporting ecotourism from the beach initiative to turtle nesting, but economic stimulus was certainly the end result. The trails network, beach ambassadorship, turtle nesting, trash pickups on the islands, dredging the pass for offshore-fishing access, increasing the red-snapper season require complex management skills and grant-writing abilities, rewarded when driven from the perspective that infrastructure stimulus creates jobs in the local economy. Businesses profit from ecotourism. Being seen to be caring for and taking care of the environment is behavioral economics, supporting initiatives for Beach Mouse habitat; tag-and-release fishing; rental of bicycles, pontoon boats, and jet skis; or going on Segway tours, is making an environmental statement to our visitors, underlining the council’s commitment to Orange Beach’s eco-friendly image. Finding the funds for these projects is key; writing grants is not a funding source one can depend on year-in-and-year-out. The City of Orange Beach recently increased the Lodging Tax by 2 percent from 11 percent to 13percent, generating $5 Million per year in additional revenue, according to Finance Director Ford Handley. One assumes some of these funds will be allocated to stabilize ecotourism’s infrastructure budget. The Backcountry-Trail Tours yielded: 408 tours and 1869 visitors, divided by the number of years since inception is 208 visitors per year. On tour, visitors learn the inter-dependency between flora and fauna indigenous to the Gulf Coast. This educational approach diversifies the offerings available to visitors in Orange Beach. Turtle nesting is also an important component, watching the beach during the summer months, patrolling at night with teams of volunteers, looking for females coming ashore, burying their eggs in the sand. Volunteers protect the nesting sites with markers, patiently waiting for the hatchlings to surface, escorting them to the sea, ensuring the survival of another generation. Environmental projects like these require funding to continue. The City of Orange Beach has shown no sign of curbing its appetite for allocating resources, presenting a unified face with everyone in step, assuring council remains proud of the city’s eco-friendly image. Some holdouts still exist, citing “disputable findings about climate change”, quoting the new Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt. “I would not agree that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to the global warming that we see,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” President Trump’s position on environmental protection “has been consistent,” Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp notes in an essay published in the July-August issue of Foreign Affairs, a subscribers-only magazine. “He wants far less of it,” according to their blog. Therefore, the constituents of Orange Beach must follow their own compass, because Federal Grants for environmental projects are diminishing. Orange Beach’s 5,000 residents are a tiny microcosm in the greater scope of the nation, manning their own tiller, implementing their own style of environmental ethics, riding the wave of ecotourism to stimulate the local economy, gladly pulling together with all-hands-on-deck towards a common-ecological goal, because ecotourism’s economic value to this community is priceless. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
Martha Roby: Dismantling the regulatory regime
Throughout the eight long years of the Obama Administration, Alabamians suffered under an overly-empowered regulatory state that burdened hardworking men and women and their businesses with countless harmful federal regulations. This type of overreach was seen across the many federal agencies, but perhaps none more blatantly than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I am very pleased that over the last year and a half, our unified Republican government has worked to dismantle this Obama-era regulatory regime. I am glad to report that important progress has been made recently, as the Trump Administration’s EPA announced it intends to replace the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan with President Donald Trump’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule. This is great news that represents an important step towards returning power to the states and further breaking down the regulatory state. When the Obama Administration first rolled out its so-called “Clean Power Plan,” they touted it as the “single most important step America has ever taken in the fight against global climate change.” What they didn’t say was that despite the significant increase it caused in energy bills, the “Clean Power Plan” actually didn’t do much to alter the impact of future climate change. Under this plan, the EPA implemented stringent regulations that limited carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, thus hiking rates and shutting down energy plants – especially in the coal industry. Of course, I think we can all agree that achieving more affordable, reliable, and safe energy is a priority, but adding more regulations and burdensome expenses to Americans are not solutions. That’s why the Trump Administration’s proposed ACE rule is so important. The rule would empower states with the flexibility to determine how best to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing modern, reliable, and affordable energy for the American people. This is a far better solution than the Obama Administration’s “one-size-fits-all” approach that treated every state the same. It’s no secret that for eight years, the EPA and other federal agencies went beyond their rightful authority and pushed for unnecessary regulations that negatively impacted our economy, discouraged investment, and stifled job creation here in the United States. These agencies became known for “backdoor legislating” by frequently attempting to circumvent Congress to set policy. I am proud that over the last year and a half, Congress has worked to reverse course by passing several Congressional Review Acts, which is the process of striking rules and regulations left over from previous administrations. These actions, along with the steps taken by the Trump Administration, have already and will continue to unleash our nation’s economy. Among the many challenges we continue to face as a nation, I believe making America energy independent and not reliant on foreign nations must continue to be a priority. While I am pleased that energy exploration methods have improved over the years, we must continue to look for ways to secure America’s energy for future generations. I believe American innovation and our entrepreneurial spirit are the keys to meeting the energy challenges of the 21st Century. President Trump’s proposed ACE plan embraces this outlook and will give Alabama companies certainty to create jobs and prosper as we move forward. ••• Martha Roby represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District. She lives in Montgomery, Alabama, with her husband Riley and their two children.
Checking in: What has Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin been up to?
Ever wonder what your mayor been up to each month? Sure you may have helped elect them, but what happens after that? Alabama Today has you covered. Each month we’ll highlight what the Yellowhammer State’s Big 5 mayors have been doing in an effort to hold them accountable and keep things more transparent. In the last month, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has called upon the EPA, penned a letter to Arnold, Pa. Mayor Karen Peconi, and announced the completion of another campaign promise among other things. Here’s what he’s been up to for the last month: July 16 Woodfin sits down in front of a camera to answer frequently asked questions about the 2018 Fresh Start Amnesty Program on Facebook. July 18 Woodfin visits the Ironworks Local 92 training facility; chartered in 1906 “Local 92 helped build the skyline that is Birmingham,” reads the company’s website. “This morning I got the opportunity to tour the Ironworkers Local 92 training facility. Local 92 hands built Sloss Furnace, the Alabama Theater, Tutwiler Hotel and more,” Woodfin posted on Facebook. “Their four-year, $189 program will teach you the trade that built this city.” Woodfin announces the “100 Homes, 100 Days” project, a partnership between the Neighborhood Revitalization Fund and Neighborhood Housing Services to renovate 100 homes in the Birmingham area drastically in need of repair. “Our plan is to bundle our work to transform entire blocks instead of renovating one home on a street surrounded by other blight,” Woodfin said in a press release. “This reaffirms our commitment to giving all 99 neighborhoods a fresh start. As additional economic development projects pay off in Birmingham, resources from those projects will be identified and committed to the fund.” July 20 In an effort to increase transparency, Woodfin launches the Boards and Agencies web portal a complete online directory listing all active boards, agencies and commissions affiliated with the city; the first of its kind for the city of Birmingham. “Making appointments to boards and agencies is one of the most important and influential powers the mayor and city council possess. Ensuring we are appointing people to boards with a clear understanding of their fiduciary role is absolutely vital,” Woodfin said in a press release. “The Mayor’s Office places a clear expectation on understanding our mission of ‘Putting People First’ and our core values of customer service, efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, and transparency. We need to have the same expectations for our board members.” July 21 Woodfin attends the 23rd annual Back to school R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Rally hosted by Pastor Green and More Than Conquerors Faith Church. July 24 The Mayor’s office announced the completion of another campaign promise to promote transparency and accountability by introducing the Open Checkbook portal on the city’s website. The Open Checkbook documents Birmingham’s budgeting and expenditures dating back to fiscal year 2009. The portal consists of nearly a million pieces of data per fiscal year. “The Open Checkbook portal is helping us uphold our campaign promise of a transparent government,” Woodfin said. “I encourage everyone to visit the portal and see exactly how we’re directing our resources to make Birmingham stronger.” July 26 Woodfin penned a letter to Arnold, Pa. Mayor Karen Peconi expressing his concerns over what he called her “deliberate misrepresentation” of the 1963 civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham. Peconi came under fire after her controversial Facebook post during the public protests in Pittsburgh following the death of Antwon Rose — a 17 year-old African-American man shot and killed by a police officer in Pittsburgh in June. The officer has since been charged with criminal homicide and awaits trial. After learning of Peconi’s comments, Woodfin wrote an open letter her in an effort to encourage “constructive reflection,” on her part. “I am writing as the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, because you posted and commented on a photograph taken during the civil rights demonstrations that took place in our city in 1963, in a way that completely misrepresented the purpose and meaning of those historic events,” Woodfin wrote. “Today, we in Birmingham take tremendous pride in our city’s role in advancing the causes of justice and equality for all Americans. And, even as we recognize the distance our nation, more than a half-century later, still has to travel along that road, we take pride in Birmingham’s progress and our ongoing emergence as a city of growth and opportunity for all. We honor our past and proudly and actively commemorate the history that was made in our streets — but our eyes and our actions are fixed firmly on the future.” July 27 Joined by former boxer and four-time heavyweight champion, Evander Holyfield, Woodfin visited with senior citizens at the Shepherd Center in Birmingham. “I’m very familiar with the importance to staying active at any age. When I was younger, my grandmother stayed with my family the last nine years of her life. It was a rewarding time for me,’’ Woodfin said in a press release. “I encourage every resident to seek out and experience the wisdom and talent our seniors have to offer.’’ On this day, Woodfin also presented Birmingham’s new Police Chief Patrick Smith with his badge during his official swearing-in ceremony. “I am proud to present our Chief of Police Patrick Smith with his badge during the official swearing-in. Thank you for your leadership chief,” Woodfin posted on Facebook. August 4 Woodfin spoke on a panel, and provided the closing keynote’s speech for the Netroots Nation national event. Drawing over 3,000 participants from across the nation, the Netroots Nation is the largest annual conference for progressives. Online and grassroots activists attend panels, training sessions, keynotes speeches, social events and more. “Today I’m speaking on a panel at Netroots Nation about Safeguarding Internet Freedom. This is a conversation about access. ISPs should not be the gatekeepers of what our citizens can and cannot access on the internet. The internet is the public library of the 21st century. We can not allow that free and open internet to be compromised,” Woodfin posted on his Facebook page. August 6 Woodfin hops around Birmingham, welcoming children to their first day of school at Hemphill Elementary, attending and speaking at Google’s free workshops at the Birmingham
Doug Jones joins Randall Woodfin’s fight to add Birmingham site to EPA priority list
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week insisting that they add the North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site to their National Priorities list. Now, U.S. Senator Doug Jones has joined Woodfin in the fight, sending his own letter to the EPA’s new acting chief Andrew Wheeler on Monday. “While the EPA’s decision not to place the North Birmingham Alabama 35th Avenue Superfund site on the NPL was disappointing to many in the community, it was perhaps understandable given the strong vocal opposition with the state,” Jones wrote in his letter. “However, it is now abundantly clear, as evidenced by the July 19, 2018 convictions of a former state legislator, a business executive and attorney on a number of federal charges including conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery, that the EPA’s initial public review process was undermined by an illegal misinformation scheme to prevent the North Birmingham site from being added to the NPL.” At a community forum last week Woodfin spoke out against the actions of the several Birmingham professionals tied to the site who were convicted of bribery, wire fraud and money laundering; and announced he was sending a letter to the EPA. “In light of the recent revelations concerning public corruption, we believe the environmental injustices in North Birmingham must be addressed and prioritized by the Environmental Protection Agency,” the Birmingham City website reads. “A site may be included on the EPA National Priorities List if it has scored greater than a 28.5 on the Hazard Ranking System. The North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site scored a 50, almost twice the minimum requirements.” According to The Gadsden Times, the EPA released a statment in response to Woodfin last week saying; “EPA received numerous comments on the proposed listing. At this time the Agency has not made a decision to finalize the site on the NPL. The site will remain on the proposed list until a decision has been made to go final or until the site has been cleaned up by the removal program.” Read Jones full letter here: U.S. Sen. Doug Jones’ letter to EPA by Erin Edgemon on Scribd
Randall Woodfin urges Birmingham community to sign EPA petition
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin is urging members of the Birmingham community to sign a petition addressed to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) insisting that they add the North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site to their National Priorities list. “In light of the recent revelations concerning public corruption, we believe the environmental injustices in North Birmingham must be addressed and prioritized by the Environmental Protection Agency,” the Birmingham City website reads. “A site may be included on the EPA National Priorities List if it has scored greater than a 28.5 on the Hazard Ranking System. The North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site scored a 50, almost twice the minimum requirements.” On Tuesday, at a community forum Woodfin spoke out against the actions of the several Birmingham professionals tied to the site who were convicted of bribery, wire fraud and money laundering; and announced he was sending a letter to the EPA, AL.com reported. “He said their actions were “morally wrong,” and he is “going to go to bat” for the people of north Birmingham.” In a letter addressed to the EPA’s new acting chief Andrew Wheeler, Woodfin addresses the corruption concerning the site, and recommends remedies to improve the site and the community surrounding it saying: As a result of these illegal actions, thousands remain at risk including the 1,070 people living in 394 public housing units and 751 children attending Hudson K-8 school. The necessary remedies include, but are not limited to, screening and health care to address pollution related health issues, relocation and reconstruction of Hudson K-8 school, non-resident redevelopment of the North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site and reclamation of Village Creek. In light of the recent revelations concerning the public corruption, we believe this situation demands a much more robust response. The United States Attorney has already done their part by exposing this criminal hoax and bringing those responsible to justice. Still, these injustices continue until the North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site is placed on the National Priorities List and all necessary resources are provided to the people of this community. Members of the Birmingham community who are interested may sign the petition here. Read Woodfin’s full letter to the EPA below: Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin s Letter to EPA
Trump administration proposes car-mileage rollback; states sue in protest
Citing safety, the Trump administration on Thursday proposed rolling back car-mileage standards, backing away from years of government efforts to cut Americans’ trips to the gas station and reduce unhealthy, climate-changing tailpipe emissions. If the proposed rule becomes final, it could roil the auto industry as it prepares for new model years and weaken one of the federal government’s chief weapons against climate change — regulating emissions from cars and other vehicles. The result, opponents say, will be dirtier air and more pollution-related illness and death. The proposal itself estimates it could cost tens of thousands of jobs — auto workers who deal with making vehicles more fuel efficient. The administration also said it wants to revoke an authority granted to California under the half-century-old Clean Air Act to set its own, tougher mileage standards. California and 16 other states already have filed suit to block any change in the fuel efficiency rules. “The EPA has handed decision making over to the fossil fuel lobbyists…the flat-Earthers, the climate change deniers,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. The proposal would freeze U.S. mileage standards at levels mandated by the Obama administration for 2020, when the new vehicle fleet will be required to hit an average of 30 miles per gallon in real-world driving. The proposed change, halting further improvement requirements, stakes its case on consumer choice and on highway safety claims challenged by many transportation experts. The administration says waiving requirements for greater fuel efficiency would make cars and light trucks somewhat more affordable. And that, it said, would get vehicles with the latest technology into the hands of consumers more quickly. It’s got “everything to do with just trying to turn over the fleet … and get more clean and safe cars on the road,” said Bill Wehrum, assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The administration will now seek public comment on its proposal and a range of other options, including leaving the tighter, Obama fuel standards in place. Some Republican lawmakers supported the mileage freeze, but environmental groups and many states assailed it. “This has to be absolutely one of the most harmful and dumbest actions that the EPA has taken,” said Healey of Massachusetts, one of the attorneys general from 19 states and the District of Columbia objecting to the change. “It’s going to cost drivers here and across the country hundreds of millions of dollars more at the pump.” The EPA under President Barack Obama had proposed mileage standards that gradually would become tougher, rising to 36 miles per gallon in 2025, 10 mpg higher than the current requirement. California and the automakers agreed to the rules in 2012, setting a single national fuel economy standard. Soon after taking office, President Donald Trump called for a rollback, urging “common sense changes” if the mileage requirements threatened auto industry jobs. However, his administration’s report on Thursday projects that relaxing mileage standards would cost 60,000 auto jobs by 2030. Those losses would hit the estimated 200,000 U.S. jobs that deal with making vehicles more fuel efficient, said Simon Mui of the Natural Resources Defense Council. A Transportation Department spokesperson called the estimate of job losses “rough approximations.” Two former EPA mileage officials said the administration’s proposal departed from years of findings on fuel efficiency, car safety, exhaust emissions and costs. “They don’t offer any meaningful example of what has changed so dramatically” to warrant the reversal, said Jeff Alson, who until this spring was a senior engineer in the EPA’s transportation and air quality office. “In my opinion the only way they got there was, they knew what kind of results they were told to get and they cooked the books to get that result.” Chet France, an EPA senior executive until his retirement in 2012, called the administration’s contention that the mileage freeze would cause only a tiny increase in climate-changing exhaust emissions “bogus.” California Gov. Jerry Brown said his state “will fight this stupidity in every conceivable way possible.” The Obama administration had planned to keep toughening fuel requirements through 2026, saying those and other regulations on vehicles would save 40,000 lives annually through cleaner air. That argument remained on the EPA’s website Thursday. According to Trump administration estimates, the Obama fuel efficiency standards would raise the price of vehicles by an average of $2,340. That would price many buyers out of the new-vehicle market, forcing them to drive older, less-safe vehicles that pollute more, the administration says. Heidi King, deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the freeze would reduce highway deaths by 1,000 per year “by reducing these barriers that prevent consumers from getting into the newer, safer, cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars.” But private transportation experts say there are so many factors involved that the 1,000-lives figure is questionable. The affordability argument also ignores thousands of dollars of saving in fuel costs for each driver over the life of a car, opponents of the rollbacks said. Longstanding federal legislation has allowed California to set its own mileage standards given the choking smog that still sometimes blankets Los Angeles and other central and Southern California valley cities. More than a dozen states follow California’s standards, amounting to about 40 percent of the country’s new-vehicle market. A drawn-out legal battle over the standards could hurt the auto industry as it tries to plan for coming model years. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a main industry group, sought to stave off any dispute between California and the federal government that could split the U.S. car market: “We urge California and the federal government to find a common sense solution that sets continued increases in vehicle efficiency standards while also meeting the needs of American drivers.” In 2012, when the standards were first adopted, cars were about 50 percent of new-vehicle sales. Now they’re only about one-third, with less-efficient trucks and SUVS making up the rest. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
New EPA acting chief, Andrew Wheeler reassures agency’s staffers
The new acting head of the Environmental Protection Agency is telling agency staffers that he has their backs and will seek their input as he sets the way forward for the troubled agency. Andrew Wheeler spoke to EPA staffers Wednesday for the first time since Scott Pruitt quit as agency administrator last week after months of ethics scandals. Wheeler made no mention of the allegations that led to Pruitt’s resignation. But he told staffers he understands how stressful management changes are. Wheeler, speaking at agency headquarters, told workers, “You will find me and my team ready to listen.” Pruitt had been battling federal investigations over his luxury spending, high security costs and other matters. He had also been accused of shutting out career staffers at the EPA. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
EPA’s relief and worries after Scott Pruitt’s exit
Taking over from an ambitious predecessor known for seeking out the rich, powerful and conservative, the Environmental Protection Agency’s newly named acting chief has promised to reach out to anxious staffers throughout the demoralized agency and to lawmakers of both political parties. By late afternoon Friday, there had been no public comment from either Scott Pruitt, whose resignation President Donald Trump announced Thursday after months of Pruitt’s ethics scandals, or Andrew Wheeler, the Washington veteran and former coal lobbyist who Trump announced as the agency’s acting head. In an email sent out to EPA staffers Thursday night and obtained by the Associated Press, Wheeler said he was honored to take temporary leadership of the agency where he started his Washington career in the early 1990s, as an EPA employee dealing with toxic substances and other matters. “I look forward to working hard alongside all of you,” Wheeler wrote agency employees. Pruitt, Oklahoma’s attorney general at the time of his EPA appointment, had embraced the perks of office in Washington. He instituted unusual and costly round-the-clock protection for himself, flew premium class to Europe and North Africa, and directed agency staffers to help seek housing for his family, high-dollar employment for his wife, and pleasures such as luxury lotion and tickets to top sporting events. Trump had praised Pruitt for his regulation-trimming ways at EPA. On Thursday, however, Trump said Pruitt himself had concluded the EPA chief’s ethics scandals were too much of a distraction and was stepping down. Some EPA staffers linked to Pruitt’s tumultuous 17-month tenure feared for their jobs Friday, former top staffers under Pruitt said. That included the roughly 20 members of a security detail Pruitt’s EPA had created to guard him around the clock. The guards were originally trained for investigating environmental crimes. The agency’s security officials are expected to decide what level of protection Wheeler needs. “There’s definitely that fear” of a shake-up among Pruitt’s remaining political appointees, said Kevin Chmielewski, the former deputy chief of staff who fell out of favor with Pruitt after questioning spending. “This is the follow-up stories, the people’s lives he’s affected, going down to the agents and everyone else.” Some scientists and other career staffers, who learned of Pruitt’s departure through news and social media on Thursday, quietly expressed relief, Elizabeth Southerland, who quit last year as the science director at the agency’s Office of Water, said after hearing Thursday and Friday from many still at the agency. Wheeler’s public statements show him to be a skeptic, like Pruitt, about the extent to which coal, oil and gas emissions drive climate change, something that mainstream science says is indisputable fact. After leaving his four-year stint at the EPA in the 1990s, Wheeler became the top staffer for the Senate’s most ardent challenger of manmade climate-change, Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma. Wheeler then went to work as a lobbyist for top coal companies and other businesses and interests. In a hearing on his appointment as the agency’s deputy administrator last November, Wheeler described himself as someone who “always tried to find common ground and work across the aisle” in Washington. Where Pruitt openly criticized the work of EPA employees under the Obama administration, Wheeler at the Senate committee hearing made a point of praising the agency’s career staffers as “some of the most dedicated and hard-working employees” in federal government. Wheeler told the Washington Examiner earlier this year he was focusing on repairing relationships with EPA career staff who bristled at Pruitt’s leadership. At the EPA, staffers expect Wheeler to stick to the agenda set by Pruitt and Trump: Cutting environmental regulations that the Trump administration and industries see as unnecessarily burdensome to business, Southerland, the former water official, said. “There’s not a single person who doesn’t think that will happen,” Southerland said of the current EPA staffers she has talked to. However, “they think at least the contemptuous behavior will stop,” she said. She was referring to allegations that Pruitt ignored all but his own political appointees at the agency, and used his office for personal gain. EPA’s press office sent out biographical information on Wheeler late Friday, but did not respond to interview requests for him. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
