Clean Air Council: Pruitt Not Protecting Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 13, 2017

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt endangers Pennsylvanians with his career-long effort to put corporate profits above public health.

Today’s visit from Administrator Pruitt in Sycamore, PA comes on the heels of the warmest February recorded in Pittsburgh since the 1800s.

 “The Trump administration’s reckless slashing of the EPA budget will cost thousands of family-sustaining jobs while jeopardizing the entire country’s air quality as well as decades of essential climate change research,” says Clean Air Council Executive Director Joe Minott. “Pennsylvania deserves leadership that will reduce carbon dioxide and methane pollution, minimizing the already damaging effects of climate change.”

“President Trump’s proposed $990 million cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will eviscerate climate research,” added Minott. “Consistent with the new Administration’s far-reaching hypocrisy, Administrator Pruitt claims he needs further study to assign the causes of climate change while supporting the elimination of such study.  Hardworking Pennsylvanians depend on EPA’s EnergyStar program as well as the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program to cut their utility bills. Today’s visit from Administrator Pruitt is an unwelcome attempt to curry favor with Pennsylvanians while cheating them from much-needed economic support.”

“That the new EPA budget adds a ten-person security detail for Administrator Pruitt adds insult to the injurious policies Pruitt and President Trump have prescribed to cater to fossil fuel corporations.”

CONTACT: Russell Zerbo, Advocacy Coordinator, rzerbo@cleanair.org 215-567-4004 ext. 130

###

The Clean Air Council is a member- supported, non-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting everyone’s right to breathe clean air. The Council is headquartered in Philadelphia and works through public education, community organizing, advocacy, and government oversight to ensure enforcement of environmental laws. For more information, please visit www.cleanair.org.