ken wagner

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gov conf kty?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFz0naxC9EQ</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">plastic</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: "Myriad Pro", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; line-height: 1.8; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; color: rgb(126, 132, 142); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Wagner will provide an overview of the EPA’s initiatives including the recently launched <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-smart-sectors-program" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(39, 131, 174); text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit;">Smart Sectors Program</a> that engages American businesses to achieve better environmental outcomes. This collaborative approach provides a significant opportunity for the EPA to consider more forward-thinking ways to protect the environment. He also will talk about the EPA’s focus on getting back to its core mission of developing and implementing laws for clean air and water that efficiently and effectively deliver human health and environmental results. This should be an informative and engaging session with the leadership of the EPA. Join us for Vinyl360 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, November 8-10.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: "Myriad Pro", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; line-height: 1.8; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; color: rgb(126, 132, 142); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Learn more about Vinyl360: <a href="http://www.vinylinfo.org/vinyl-institute/events/vinyl360" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(39, 131, 174); text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit;">http://www.vinylinfo.org/vinyl-institute/events/vinyl360</a></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/us/scott-pruitt-lobbyist-house.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">thehill</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott Pruitt</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> once purchased a house from a top lobbyist in Oklahoma with the help of a shell company, The New York Times reported Saturday.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two business associates involved in the 2003 purchase are now aides to Pruitt at the agency: Kenneth Wagner, a senior adviser at the EPA, and Albert Kelly, who runs the agency's effort to redesign the Superfund program.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the Times, the home, which was seen as a prime property because of its proximity to the state Capitol building, was purchased for $375,000 from a retiring telecommunications lobbyist.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But that price was $100,000 less than the lobbyist, Marsha Lindsey, had paid for it just a year before. The shortfall, according to the Times, which examined the records, was picked up by Lindsey's company, telecom giant SBC Oklahoma.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The company, now a subsidiary of AT&T, lobbied on a number of matters including a deregulatory bill that would allow it to raise rates and an effort to reopen a decade-old bribery case. According to the Times, Pruitt sided with the company on both matters.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt, then a state senator, intended to use the residence as a place to stay while Oklahoma's legislature was in session. During this time he also rented out a room to another Republican state senator, Jim Dunlap.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wagner, who was a partner at the private legal practice where Pruitt worked, was a co-investor in the shell company that purchased the residence.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kelly wasn't involved in the shell company but ran the community bank which issued the mortgage for the residence. Kelly was later barred for life from the banking industry by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) because the agency had “reason to believe that [Kelly] violated a law or regulation, by entering into an agreement pertaining to a loan by the Bank without FDIC approval.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The two now hold top positions at the EPA.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2005, the company owned by Wagner and Pruitt sold the residence for $95,000 more than it had paid just two years earlier.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dunlap told the Times that he had no knowledge that Pruitt had purchased the residence from a lobbyist. He said he was under the impression that Pruitt had purchased it from a group of lawyers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This was a place where you slept and had dinner,” Dunlap told the Times. “It was all above board.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Oklahoma deal is only the latest in a series of stories raising ethics issues involving Pruitt.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt was reported earlier this month to have been living in 2017 in a Washington, D.C., condo partly owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist at a rate of just $50 per night, which he and others have insisted was market value.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The EPA chief also came under fire after it was discovered that two top aides received raises after the White House declined to approve the pay hikes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked about the Oklahoma house deal and Pruitt's business relationship with his top appointees, an EPA spokeswoman told the Times that the dealings "were ethical" and that Pruitt's stake in the company "was a simple real estate investment.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Mr. Wagner and Mr. Kelly left high-profile positions in law and banking in Oklahoma, to serve in the administration,” the spokeswoman said in an email to the Times.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They are dedicated EPA employees who have earned the respect and admiration of EPA career employees across the country. They serve the country professionally, and transparently — and are committed to ensuring the programs they work on are successful.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><section class="content" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; counter-reset: list-header-num 0; max-width: 600px;"><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A longtime colleague from U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's baseball and legal career is now a top official at the agency.</b></font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kenneth Wagner joined EPA last month as a senior adviser for regional and state affairs. Pruitt has sought to put his mark on EPA's leadership ranks since his Senate confirmation in February, with Wagner just the latest agency hire from the EPA chief's home state of Oklahoma.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Ken is understood inside the agency as a longtime adviser and friend to Administrator Pruitt who knows how he thinks about these issues and can put his ideas in motion," an EPA official told E&E News. "It's part of [Pruitt's] effort to have someone who has his back and understanding of his approach to these issues."</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The two have a relationship that stretches years and took shape in Oklahoma.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Pruitt worked at the same Oklahoma law firm, Latham, Wagner, Steele & Lehman, where Wagner was a partner.</b> Pruitt was affiliated with the firm in an "of counsel" capacity for several years.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They also share an alma mater, the University of Tulsa College of Law, where they both graduated in 1993.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The two partnered together when it came to sports, as well.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2003, <a href="http://newsok.com/article/1956725" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; font-weight: bold;"><em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Oklahoman</em></a> reported that Wagner was a member of Pruitt's ownership group that took over the Oklahoma City RedHawks, a minor league baseball team. Pruitt was a co-owner and managing general partner of that team.</font></p><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">In addition<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, Wagner has had political ties to Pruitt. He was treasurer of Pruitt's Oklahoma Strong Leadership political action committee, according to Federal Election Commission <a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/04/13/document_gw_03.pdf" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold;">records</a>.</span></font></p><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Pruitt shut down that group as well as his super PAC, Liberty 2.0, after facing questions over whether he planned to keep those political entities active while he ran EPA, which could have led him to raise funds from industries that he would regulate as agency head </span>(<a href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060048623" style="background: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold;"><em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Climatewire</em></a>, Jan. 19).</font></p><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wagner joins other former Pruitt political aides from Oklahoma who have come to EPA (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060051743" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold;"><em style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Greenwire</em></a>, March 20). Other associates of the EPA chief have joined K Street, registering as federal lobbyists for the first time last month (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060051299" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold;"><em style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Greenwire</em></a>, March 10).</font></p><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Pruitt kept up his ties to Latham, Wagner, Steele & Lehman when he was Oklahoma's attorney general.</font></p><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wagner's firm had a contract with the attorney general's office before Pruitt took office, but its contracts continued with Pruitt as attorney general and grew in size, according to state records. The records show the firm has been paid at least $300,000 for its legal work for the attorney general's office.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The firm had a contract for $35,000 for work on the state's Multiple Injury Trust Fund as Pruitt took office. That grew to $50,000 by 2011 in Pruitt's first year as Oklahoma attorney general.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2015, the last year for which records are available, the contract was for $115,000, though the firm was actually paid more that year at about $165,000.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the state's website, the Multiple Injury Trust Fund "protects employers from liability for the combination of old and new disabilities."</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Oklahoma attorney general office's records of outside law firms are vague on some accounts. For some years, they list only the maximum contract amount, rather than the specific amount paid under the contract as well.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The state office posted the records online after E&E News and other media outlets made public record requests for them during Pruitt's Senate confirmation process.</font></p></section><section class="promotion generated" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-width: 2px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-color: rgb(152, 177, 203); border-image: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinBogardus" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">@KevinBogardus</a></font></span></section><section class="promotion generated" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-width: 2px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-color: rgb(152, 177, 203); border-image: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">e7e</font></section></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">li scrape</font></font></font></font></div><div>Tammy Grabel</div><div>Entrepreneur</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Catalina Cruz</div><div>
</div><div>Jacob Moss</div><div>Deputy DIrector, Climate Protection Partnerships Division at US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Phaedra C. Parks</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Goo</div><div>--</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Gina Shaffer</div><div>
</div><div>Will Lovell</div><div>Policy Assistant in the Office of Policy at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Susan Bodine</div><div>Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Bill Wehrum</div><div>Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation at US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)</div><div>
</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div>