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White House, EPA Try to Bury Report on Contaminated Drinking Water at Military Bases
Fearing a "public relations nightmare," Trump's White House and the Environmental Protection Agency, under the reign of Scott Pruitt, blocked the release of a major water contamination story. Journalists, members of Congress, environmental and public health advocates, and water experts are all calling on the Trump administration to "immediately" release the report.
The chemicals, widely known as PFOS and PFOA, were found in drinking water or groundwater in quantities that exceeded amounts deemed safe by EPA near 126 military facilities, the Department of Defense said in a study in May. The perflourinated compounds, present in a firefighting foam used by the military, have been linked in some studies to prostate, kidney and testicular cancer, as well as to fertility problems and developmental delays in fetuses and children.
When this report was seen by OUR Environmental Protection Agency, led by Scott Pruitt and other Repubicans, their reaction was horror. Not horror over the health and safety of our people and our military families. Horror that it'll look bad.... horror that environmental concerns exist in a world where they'd rather end the EPA entirely.
Emails among U.S. government officials show the Trump administration trying to manage a potentially damaging report on a class of chemicals found to have polluted water supplies near U.S. military installations. The exchanges, sent in January, reveal officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and Office of Management and Budget worrying over a yet-to-be-released study....
One OMB official warned of a "public relations nightmare" when the report is released. The emails were unearthed through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Three and a half months later, the report has yet to be made public.
The various agencies communicated back and forth in official capacities trying to find ways to change the criteria to IGNORE A HEALTH ISSUE THAT IS HARMING OUR MILITARY MEMBERS AND FAMILIES.
"The public, media, and Congressional reaction to these new numbers is going to be huge. The impact to EPA and DoD is going to be extremely painful," an unidentified official from the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs wrote
HOW ABOUT THE IMPACT TO THE PEOPLE BEING EXPOSED TO THESE CHEMICALS WHICH YOU'RE TRYING TO HIDE EVIDENCE OF?
Earlier emails among EPA staffers, also provided by the Union of Concerned Scientists, indicate HHS staff held calls with officials from EPA and OMB to discuss the study and differences in approaches among agencies.
Nancy Beck, deputy assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, suggested OMB serve as a "neutral arbiter" to "step up and coordinate interagency review of this important guidance document before it is released."
Richard Yamada, the deputy assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development, said.... he is "not sure our scientists agree."