San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Biofuels spat, not ethics, might be Pruitt’s downfall
Key senators voice concern
WASHINGTON — A deluge of political scandals hasn’t sunk Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. But a wonky debate over the nation’s biofuel policy just might.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley bluntly warned in May that he would call for Pruitt’s resignation if the EPA continued exempting small oil refineries from a mandate to use renewable fuels such as ethanol made from corn, a staple crop in his home state of Iowa.
When Pruitt moved to do what Grassley wanted — with a plan that would force larger refineries to make up for the waivers by using more biofuel — he sparked an uproar among oil executives and allied lawmakers who phoned top Trump administration officials to complain. Their not-sosubtle message: Pruitt’s job was on the line.
Pruitt’s long-term tenure at the helm of the EPA was already in doubt, as lawmakers, the White House and federal investigators look into allegations of ethical lapses, abuses of power and questionable spending
The New York Times reported Saturday that the EPA’s chief ethics officer, the official whose main job is to help agency staffers obey government ethics laws, has been working behind the scenes to push for a series of independent investigations into possible improprieties by Pruitt, a letter sent this week says.
The letter is the first public acknowledgment that Kevin Minoli, who has frequently defended Pruitt’s actions since Pruitt took over the agency in February 2017, is now openly questioning whether Pruitt violated federal ethics rules.
The investigations recommended by Minoli include an examination of how Pruitt rented a $50-anight condominium on Capitol Hill in 2017 while he was being lobbied by Steven Hart, the spouse of the condo’s owner, according to a federal official with firsthand knowledge of the inquiries, who asked not to be named since the details of the investigation are intended to remain confidential.
The EPA on Saturday declined to comment on the allegations related to Pruitt.
During the biofuel policy skirmish, at least one aide to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, made an explicit threat, warning administration officials that if the EPA didn’t back off the plan, Cruz would seek Pruitt’s resignation.
Other top congressional Republicans with significant refining interests in their states, also protested the proposal.
The interactions were described by people familiar with the encounters who sought anonymity to describe the private conversations. A representative for Cruz did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The backlash worked. After the outcry, Pruitt agreed to abandon the plan as part of a proposed biofuel regulation — at least for now.
The episode underscored how the cloud of allegations and ethical questions hovering over Pruitt are affecting his day-to-day work on intricate environmental policy, limiting his room to maneuver on sensitive issues. That includes the Renewable Fuel Standard, a 13-year-old mandate that pits oil refining and agricultural interests against each other in a contest over gasoline market share.
It’s not clear that political threats against Pruitt or his other problems are affecting policy outcomes. The EPA has doggedly continued rewriting rules governing air pollution and climate change, with Pruitt recently ordering new limits on the EPA’s ability to preemptively veto projects because of water pollution concerns.