We are circulating a letter for signature by former EPA employees asking House Committee Oversight Chair, Rep. Elijah Cummings, to hold a hearing on EPA’s recent inappropriate and partisan threats against California. The letter describes the pressure Wheeler has placed on the Governor of California, threatening to withhold highway funds because of California’s inability to meet air quality standards. His follow up letter a few days later was even more outrageous, demanding that the state take “remedial action” to stop the homeless from polluting waterways.
You can read the sign-on letter below. If you’re able to sign, please fill out the form on this page no later than COB Tuesday, October 8, and if you’re willing, include your former title or program at EPA.
For questions, contact Mary Greene at mgreene@environm915stg.wpenginepowered.com.
The Honorable Elijah Cummings, Chairman
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
The United States House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Request for Hearing Regarding Inappropriate Threat of Use of EPA Authority Against the State of
California
Dear Representative Cummings:
We write as former employees of the Environmental Protection Agency to respectfully request that your Committee investigate whether EPA Administrator Wheeler’s recent actions in California were intended to retaliate for the state’s failure to support President Trump’s political agenda.
The public depends on EPA to set priorities guided by law and science and make decisions that are objective and nonpartisan. While those principles have served the public well under both Republican and Democratic Presidents, they are in serious trouble today.
On September 24, Mr. Wheeler wrote a letter to the Governor of California threatening to withhold highway funds based on California’s failure to meet air quality standards. That decision was made just one week after President Trump announced that EPA would revoke California’s authority to set tighter fuel efficiency standards that would substantially reduce the air pollution that is now of such great concern to his administration. EPA’s political appointees have worked overtime for the past two years to delay or water down standards that limit emissions from power plants, the oil, gas and chemical industries, and other major sources. We hope that your investigation will weigh the effect that all of these federal rollbacks in emission standards will have when evaluating Mr. Wheeler’s sudden interest in air quality in the state of California.
On September 26, Mr. Wheeler wrote an even more remarkable letter to California’s Governor demanding that the state take “remedial action” to stop the homeless from polluting waterways. The letter followed President Trump’s declaration that the homeless were responsible for “tremendous” amounts of ocean pollution. While California cities are struggling to find affordable housing for people living on the street, no evidence supports targeting the homeless for Clean Water Act enforcement, given the much greater damage done by the huge volume of waste discharged from industrial plants, factory farms, and sewage treatment plants and many other sources.
EPA has not shown much enthusiasm for enforcing environmental laws since President Trump took office, especially when violations come from big polluters with political connections. It has instead proposed shrinking the number of wetlands and streams protected by the Clean Water Act, rolling back rules that limit agricultural runoff and relaxing toxic discharge limits for coal plants that are the largest industrial source of such pollutants. Considering its enthusiasm for de-regulation and reluctance to enforce the laws still on the books, President Trump’s threat to wield EPA’s authority against the most vulnerable members of our society is shameless and morally repugnant.
The September 26 letter also calls out California’s failure to take enforcement action against cities that fail to comply with the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts. While we welcome Mr. Wheeler’s sudden interest in environmental compliance, especially given the drastic decline in EPA enforcement since the 2016 election, his decision to single out California while taking no action in other states is transparently partisan. Please ask Mr. Wheeler whether he intends to take similar action in other states where the agency’s own data show there are at least as many serious violations of environmental law as he discovered in California.
The power of EPA’s authority should be used to protect human health and the environment, and never to retaliate against perceived political foes. We therefore urge your Committee to determine whether Mr. Wheeler’s letters of September 24 and 26 threatening to withhold grant funds and increase EPA oversight were motivated by improper partisan concerns.
Thank you for considering our views, and we look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Eric Schaeffer
Executive Director
Environmental Integrity Project
Washington, DC 20005
202-263-4440
eschaeffer@environm915stg.wpenginepowered.com
Mary Greene
Deputy Director
Environmental Integrity Project
Washington, DC 20005
202-263-4449
mgreene@environm915stg.wpenginepowered.com
We thank you for considering our views, and look forward to your report.
