Pruitt’s top aides departing EPA amid ethics inquiries

WASHINGTON — The two top officials in charge of security and toxic-waste cleanups at the Environmental Protection Agency have left their jobs, days after EPA administrator Scott Pruitt told lawmakers his subordinates were to blame for ethics problems that have imperiled his political future and prompted more than a dozen federal investigations.

In statements Tuesday, Pruitt praised the men — Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta, the security chief, and Albert Kelly, who ran the EPA’s Superfund program — and gave no reason for their departures.

Perrotta was expected to appear Wednesday for a transcribed interview by staffers of the House oversight committee, one of the bodies and federal organizations probing reports of excessive spending by Pruitt and other issues at the agency. Committee aides said Perrotta’s resignation was not expected to derail his appearance.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said that the departures were unrelated to the ongoing federal investigations and that the agency was cooperating with the congressional probe, led by House oversight chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

Pruitt’s spending on security and some of the security contracts with Perrotta are among the topics of the federal probes involving the EPA under Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general. Pruitt, an advocate of minimizing regulation, has survived the kind of scandals that have brought down several other Cabinet appointees of President Donald Trump’s.

At House hearings last week, Pruitt weathered six hours of scathing questions, criticism and a couple of calls from congressional Democrats to resign over the steady flow of news reports and announcements of new investigations allegations of ethical lapses at his agency. They include spending on Pruitt’s behalf for roundthe-clock security guards, first-class plane tickets and a $43,000 soundproof telephone booth.