A Department of Justice alumnus dredges up bad examples for a New York Times attack on EPA chief Scott Pruitt.
Here’s the basic claim:
Past the bickering over bureaucratic bookkeeping, here’s what you ned to know about this attack.
- Love Canal. No one was hurt. The “disaster” was the local government’s decision to build a school over a former chemical dump.
- Times Beach. No one was hurt in this unnecessary case of panic over dioxin. The federal government unnecessarily evacuated and bulldozed the town.
- Libby, Montana. There may have been as many as 50 “extra” non-occupational deaths over a period of 32 years in this vermiculite mining town. Smoking is a factor in many of these asbestos-related deaths. But if you ask Libby residents, the real villain is the Clinton/Bush/Obama EPA that has bungled and delayed cleanup for decades. Mine operator WR Grace was not found to have broken any law.
Past government incompetence cannot rightly be used to attack the Trump administration.
Why does the federal government paying from one part to another make any sense at all? A waste of administrative money. If DOJ have a real case then they can do it through normal channels.
They were very careful not to mention the EPA spill of toxic water in CO.