Ideology kills

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We kept saying that the focus on Pruitt's scandals, as manifold as they are, isn't the main issue. It's his destruction of the EPA and its duties to protect the environment and, ultimately, lives:

Thursday morning’s hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was supposed to be all about Scott Pruitt, the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency. But it also turned out to be about Drew Wynne. Wynne was 31 years old when he died last October, after using paint stripper containing the toxic chemical methylene chloride. The EPA proposed a ban on methylene chloride shortly before President Barack Obama left office last year. In December, however, Pruitt’s EPA indefinitely delayed that ban.

“Mr. Pruitt, your deregulatory agenda cost lives,” New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone said, after recounting Wynne’s story. Last month, Wynne’s family called Pruitt’s decision “a terrible mistake” and urged him to finalize the ban. Pallone also entered into the record a letter he received from the family of Joshua Atkins, a 31-year-old who died in February after using a common paint stripper on his bike. “You have the power to finalize the ban on methylene chloride now and prevent more deaths, but you haven’t done it,” Pallone said. “Do you have anything to say to these families?”

Pruitt was well-prepared to defend himself over the many ethics scandals surrounding him. He was less prepared for this line of questioning. He said his staff was “reviewing” the proposed ban, adding that “there has been no decision at this time.” Pallone scoffed. “Obviously, you have nothing to say to these families.”

For instance: the hundreds of households in Chicago with dangerous levels of lead in their drinking water. Congressman Bobby Rush of Illinois noted that Pruitt twice delayed a rule to reduce lead in drinking water; twice delayed another rule on lead paint in commercial buildings; and recently proposed a rule to limit the number of human health studies that can be used at the EPA. “These important studies are critical in identifying potential risks to public health, including those related to lead contamination,” Rush said.

The Democrats also highlighted victims of climate change, such as Bill Taylor, a fisherman who owns Seattle-based Taylor Shellfish.Congressman Derek Kilmer of Washington said Taylor’s business “is constantly threatened by algal blooms and acidic waters.” He also mentioned Fawn Sharp, the president of the Quinault Indian Nation, who is planning to relocate her entire village due to sea-level rise and intensified storms. Kilmer then cited Pruitt’s rollback of the Clean Power Plan, and Pruitt’s comments from February in which he said climate change could “help humans flourish.”

Scott Pruitt Is Forced to Confront Reality | The New Republic

Ideology kills..