EPA Staffers Frozen Out of Decision-Making

EPA Staffers Frozen Out of Decision-Making

On November 9, 2017, the Center for Public Integrity reported that career staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including scientists, are being frozen out of decision-making. The report indicates that staffers rarely get face time with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and frequently receive top-down orders from political appointees with little room for debate. They must sometimes force their way into conversations about subjects in which they have expertise.

The report quotes nine career staffers who indicated that “their opinions seem to hold little weight. They are excluded from meetings . . . and their advice on agency operations is often disregarded.” The staffers indicated that “[p]olitical appointees are taking more of a hands-on role in tasks career employees previously would have handled.” One example given related to EPA’s plan to reconsider certain vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards. Career staff had drafted a concise notice announcing EPA’s plan, but appointees changed it to expand the number of vehicles affected by the review and make the Department of Transportation the lead agency on the decision, despite EPA’s legal obligation to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act.