Sources: EPA blocks warnings on cancer-causing chemical
Burying the formaldehyde study is part of an effort by Pruitt and aides to undermine EPA's research program, current and former officials tell POLITICO.
The Trump administration is suppressing an Environmental Protection Agency report that warns that most Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia and other ailments, a current and a former agency official told POLITICO.
The warnings are contained in a draft health assessment EPA scientists completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to the officials. They said top advisers to departing Administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying its release as part of a campaign to undermine the agency’s independent research into the health risks of toxic chemicals.
Andrew Wheeler, the No. 2 official at EPA who will be the agency's new acting chief as of Monday, also has a history with the chemical. He was staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2004, when his boss, then-Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), sought to delay an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/06/epa-formaldehyde-warnings-blocked-696628
Environmentalists: Pruitt's replacement 'should scare anyone who breathes'
Environmentalists say former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, the new acting EPA chief, is smarter and more plugged in to Washington than Scott Pruitt was.
The man taking the reins at the Environmental Protection Agency after Scott Pruitt's downfall is a longtime Washington insider and coal lobbyist who is set to pursue the same anti-regulation agenda — only without all of Pruitt’s baggage.
Andrew Wheeler, sworn in as EPA’s deputy administrator in late April after a six-month confirmation battle, has spent decades in what President Donald Trump calls “the swamp,” first as a top aide to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) at the Environment and Public Works Committee, then as an energy lobbyist for clients such as the politically active coal company Murray Energy.
On Thursday, Trump named Wheeler as EPA's acting administrator after accepting Pruitt's resignation.
In contrast to Pruitt, an Oklahoma conservative who alienated a growing number of fellow Trump-supporting Republicans, Wheeler is a smooth insider with a penchant for policy details and a reputation for working well with both friends and adversaries. But those who have dealt with him say he’s on board with the broad deregulatory agenda that Pruitt and Trump are pursuing.
That presents a paradox for environmental groups, who would welcome Pruitt’s departure but fear his replacement would be a much more formidable opponent.
“Wheeler is much smarter and will try to keep his efforts under the radar in implementing Trump’s destructive agenda,” said Jeremy Symons, vice president for political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund. “That should scare anyone who breathes.”