bodine esq

swamp thing<div>omg inhofe brownfield testimony<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.htmlFrom the beginning, the Trump administration has aggressively slashed environmental regulations. A New York Times analysis identified </a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">100 environmental protections</a> that have been reversed or are in the process of getting rolled back. The administration's record on chemical safety has been especially hazardous for the health of Americans, <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/02/report-after-three-years-trump-kids-are-not-alright" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">especially children</a>.<a href="https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2018/01/trump-s-toxic-wake-8-ways-president-made-chemicals-less-safe-2017" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">One year into President Trump's term,</a> EWG detailed how the Trump administration has stacked the Environmental Protection Agency with industry lawyers and lobbyists, undermined worker safety and cooked the books on chemical safety assessments. <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/05/13-ways-pruitt-s-epa-has-made-your-life-more-toxic" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Midway through his second year,</a> we reported how the EPA reversed a ban on a brain-damaging pesticide, delayed chemical bans and killed a rule to protect kids from toxic PCBs in schools. <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2019/08/10-ways-trump-has-undermined-chemical-safety" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Last year,</a> we reported that the EPA had rescinded safety rules at chemical plants, rubber-stamped untested new chemicals and silenced researchers.As Trump's first term nears its end, things are even worse. Here are 10 more ways the Trump administration has continued to make life more toxic for Americans.<div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-basename="1-failed-to-aggressively-regulate-toxic-forever-chemicals" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline">1. Failed to Aggressively Regulate Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’</h3>The toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS contaminate <a href="https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">more than 2,200 sites</a> across the nation. Because they never break down in the environment, PFAS are often called "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/these-toxic-chemicals-are-everywhere-and-they-wont-ever-go-away/2018/01/02/82e7e48a-e4ee-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">forever chemicals</a>." They build up in our bodies and are linked to cancer, reproductive and developmental harms and reduced effectiveness of vaccines. Even though the EPA has known about the risks from PFAS chemicals <a href="https://www.ewg.org/epa-pfas-timeline/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">since at least 1998</a>, they remain virtually unregulated.In February 2019, the EPA released a toothless PFAS "action plan" that lacked deadlines for action and failed to address the use of PFAS in everyday products, contamination from PFAS air emissions or disposal of PFAS waste, among other concerns. A year and a half later, key goals from the plan, including regulating PFAS under the Superfund law and setting drinking water standards, remain unfulfilled.When Congress stepped in and sought to designate PFOA and PFOS – the two most notorious and well-studied PFAS – as "hazardous substances" and to set deadlines for agency action, Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/SAP_HR-535.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">threatened a veto</a>. Trump's EPA also <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/07/27/2020-13738/long-chain-perfluoroalkyl-carboxylate-and-perfluoroalkyl-sulfonate-chemical-substances-significant" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">weakened a rule</a> designed to regulate <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/06/final-decision-epa-fails-protect-public-toxic-forever-chemicals-consumer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">PFAS in consumer products</a>.</div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="2-allowed-a-rocket-fuel-chemical-to-stay-in-drinking-water" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 data-role="headline">2. Allowed a Rocket Fuel Chemical to Stay in Drinking Water...</h3></div></div>=<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-syngenta-pesticides-2535467506.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-syngenta-pesticides-2535467506.html</a><div class="headline-container" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Trump EPA Slammed for Ag Giant's 'Absurdly Low' Pesticide Fine</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2535467506" data-authors="Lorraine Chow" data-headline="Trump EPA Slammed for Ag Giant's 'Absurdly Low' Pesticide Fine" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description">The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">EPA</a>) announced a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-reaches-agreement-syngenta-farmworker-safety-violations-kauai" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">settlement</a> this week with Syngenta Seeds, LLC over violations of federal <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">pesticide</a> regulations at its farm in Kauai, Hawaii.The company, a subsidiary of Swiss biotech giant <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/syngenta" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Syngenta</a> AG, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $150,000 and spend another $400,000 on worker protection training sessions."Reducing pesticide exposure for the millions of farmworkers who cultivate our food is a high priority for EPA," said Alexis Strauss, EPA's acting regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "This settlement will bring to Hawaii and Pacific Island growers much-needed training to protect agricultural workers."That fine, however, is a tiny fraction of the $4.8 million in civil penalties initially sought by President Obama's EPA.<a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-files-complaint-against-syngenta-farmworker-safety-violations-kauai.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">According</a> to an EPA complaint, on Jan. 29, 2016, 19 workers entered a Syngenta field recently sprayed with a restricted use organophosphate insecticide. Ten of these workers had to be taken to the hospital for medical treatment.The EPA alleged that Syngenta misused the pesticide "Lorsban Advanced," and failed to notify workers to avoid the field. The active ingredient in "Lorsban Advanced" happens to be <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chlorpyrifos" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">chlorpyrifos</a>, a controversial insecticide linked to a host of health and environmental problems. It was said that Syngenta allowed workers to enter the site without protective gear and did not provide adequate decontamination supplies at the field, nor did it supply prompt transportation for emergency medical care.Then, in an <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-02/documents/fifra-09-2017-0001-syngenta_seeds_llc_amended_complaint-2018-01-12.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">amended complaint</a> filed this month, Syngenta again violated pesticide use rules in January 2017 after a worker sprayed chlorpyrifos on a field but did warn work crews about the treated areas. One worker who said he was exposed experienced "adverse health effects" as a result.Chlorpyrifos is widely used in citrus, nuts and orchards. Chemical maker <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dow" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Dow Chemical</a> sells about 5 million pounds of it in the U.S. each year.But chlorpyrifos is acutely toxic and associated with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/chlorpyrifos-ban-schneiderman-2434908038.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">neurodevelopmental harms</a> in children. Furthermore, the EPA released a report indicating that that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-pesticides-2201058081.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">97 percent</a> of the more than 1,800 animals and plants protected under the Endangered Species Act are likely to be harmed by the commonly used insecticide....But in March 2017, EPA administrator <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration-line: none;">Scott Pruitt</a> scrapped <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-pesticide-ban-chlorpyrifos-2338511186.html" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration-line: none;">Obama-era plans</a> to ban the toxic chemical.[pix]<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/chlorpyrifos-pesticide-salmon-earthjustice-2524187753.html" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration-line: none;">Just last month</a>, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported that chlorpyrifos can harm salmon and their habitat to the point that their survival and recovery are at risk.Environmental groups have condemned the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> EPA's tiny fine against Syngenta.Syngenta "got off with a ridiculously small fine," Paul Achitoff, managing attorney for mid-Pacific office of<a href="https://earthjustice.org/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration-line: none;">Earthjustice</a>, an environmental law organization, told the <a href="https://apnews.com/af4a93d56222451d9280816e14841b83/Critics-blast-EPA-for-lowering-Syngenta-pesticide-fine" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration-line: none;">Associated Press</a>.Achitoff noted that the EPA often seeks the maximum penalty when it files a complaint and lowers the amount for the fine that's ultimately imposed. However, "there's such a huge difference" in this case.Achitoff also said that the EPA and Syngenta were close to resolving the case for a larger amount in 2016 when Obama was still president. But he said Syngenta pulled back after the 2016 election so they could pay a lesser fine under the new Trump administration."And now a year and a half later, we see that they're absolutely right. They could get a much better deal under Trump," Achitoff said.Lori Ann Burd, the environmental health director for the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Biological Diversity</a>, told the AP that the lower fine is "a win for the pesticide maker, not the farmworkers carelessly exposed to a dangerous pesticide.""This absurdly low fine just reassures pesticide makers what they already knew, that as long as Trump is president they're free to do whatever they want," she added.Syngenta did not answer the AP's question of whether it was close to a settlement in 2016 but decided to wait until Trump took office for a lower fine.The company said in a statement: "Agricultural worker safety is a top priority for Syngenta and safe use training has for many years been an integral part of the way the company does business worldwide."...</div></div></div><a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/05/24/donald-trumps-pick-for-epa-enforcement-office-was-a-lobbyist-for-superfund-polluters/">https://theintercept.com/2017/05/24/donald-trumps-pick-for-epa-enforcement-office-was-a-lobbyist-for-superfund-polluters/</a><div><div data-reactid="173" style="box-sizing: border-box;">RESIDENTS OF HOOSICK FALLS, New York, recently took comfort in EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s announcements that the agency will be prioritizing the Superfund program. This small village northeast of Albany is one of <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/current-npl-updates-new-proposed-npl-sites-and-new-npl-sites" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">eight sites</a> the EPA last year proposed adding to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-national-priorities-list-npl" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">National Priorities List</a>, as the list of polluted sites covered by the Superfund is known, because the community’s drinking water had elevated levels of <a href="https://theintercept.com/series/the-teflon-toxin/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">PFOA</a>, which has been associated with kidney cancer, testicular cancer, and thyroid disease, among other health problems.Since the contamination was discovered in 2014, “there’s been a lot of fear,” said Rob Allen, the mayor of Hoosick Falls. Testing has shown many people in Hoosick Falls, including Allen’s four children, have elevated levels of PFOA in their blood. Allen and others in the town are still awaiting the official Superfund designation, which they hope will help speed the process of cleaning up the pollution and securing a new water source. “We need all the help we can get,” he explained.Since 1980, Superfund has been the federal government’s answer to the worst cases of toxic pollution. The program assesses giant environmental messes, ranks them according to the hazard they pose to the environment or human health, and if they’re dangerous enough, adds them to the list and arranges to clean them up. At its best, Superfund removes environmental pollution so sites can be used again and measurably alleviates health dangers. According to one 2011 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140222/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">study</a> published in the American Economic Review, babies living near Superfund sites that had yet to be remediated had a 20 to 25 percent increased rate of birth defects. After the cleanups, the rates of birth defects dropped.But Superfund’s progress has slowed to a near halt in recent years, in part due to a lack of funding. A tax on polluting industries originally paid into a fund for the cleanups (hence the name Superfund) expired in 1995, leaving regular taxpayers to pick up the tab when the government can’t identify a polluter — or when a polluter doesn’t have enough money to pay.Since then, as fewer cleanups have been completed, the number of people exposed to dangerous pollution has climbed. In 2010, there were 75 Superfund sites where the government had yet to bring toxic exposure to humans under control. By last year, that number was up to 121, according to the most recent <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-remedial-performance-measures#he_anchor" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">EPA data</a>.<div class="img-wrap align-center width-fixed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px 2.25em; line-height: 1; max-width: none; width: 1024px;">[<a href="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2017/05/hoosick-falls-superfund-site-1495220892.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">
</a>The Hoosic River runs through the village of Hoosick Falls, N.Y., on Jan. 21, 2016. ]</div>Pruitt announced his plans to emphasize Superfund on a visit to a <a href="https://apnews.com/0d508d2021bb45319a41708973ef7650/Lead-crisis-in-housing-project-was-actually-no-surprise" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">lead-contaminated</a> public housing site in Indiana in April. On May 22, he reiterated his commitment to the program by announcing a new <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-superfund-task-force" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Superfund Task Force</a>, which will “provide recommendations on how the EPA can streamline and improve the Superfund program.” In an accompanying <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-05/documents/prioritizing_the_superfund_program_memo_5-22-2017.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">memo</a>, the EPA administrator once again promised to restore Superfund and the EPA’s land and water cleanup efforts “to their rightful place at the center of the agency’s core mission.”But Pruitt’s pledges to protect human health and the environment by focusing on Superfund are belied by his own priorities and personnel choices for the program. One of the administrator’s stated goals for Superfund, to reduce “the administrative and overhead costs and burdens borne by parties remediating contaminated sites,” is shared by groups responsible for the pollution, including the Federal Recycling and Remediation Coalition, a group of companies and trade associations that may be directly affected by EPA’s cleanup rules.On May 15, the lobbying firm <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3729006-Barnes-amp-Thornburg.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Barnes & Thornburg LLP</a> submitted specific ideas on behalf of FRRC. Among their suggestions: limiting EPA’s review of materials at each stage of a Superfund cleanup; eliminating a requirement that recyclers must notify recipients about chemical constituents in recycled materials; and rescinding a rule restricting the burning of certain paints and solvents.Albert Kelly, whom Pruitt announced May 22 as his choice to chair the Superfund Task Force, is an Oklahoma banker who has no prior experience with the program or with environmental issues at all, according to his <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3729025-Albert-Kelly-Redacted.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">résumé</a>. Kelly, who has donated twice to Pruitt’s campaigns in Oklahoma, has spent the past 33 years working at Spiritbank, which is headquartered in Tulsa, and most recently served as its chairman. The “core competencies” listed on his résumé, which The Intercept obtained by FOIA, include motivational speaking, business development, and “political activity.”Meanwhile, Susan Bodine, whom Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/12/president-donald-j-trump-announces-key-additions-his-administration" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">nominated</a> on May 12 to be assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, does have plenty of experience with environmental issues — though most of it representing polluting industries. According to her <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-bodine-206b7b10/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">LinkedIn</a> account, from 2009 until 2015, Bodine was a partner at <a href="http://www.btlaw.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Barnes & Thornburg LLP</a>, the same firm that is representing FRRC, the group of industries directly affected by EPA cleanup rules. While at Barnes & Thornburg, Bodine represented the American Forest and Paper Association from 2011 to 2014. Member companies in that industry group have hundreds of EPA enforcement actions against them, including violations of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act.Bodine’s close ties to these companies make her a poor choice to lead the enforcement office, according to Frank O’Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch. “She is the classic revolving door appointment,” said O’Donnell. “The office of enforcement is responsible for everything — clean air, clean water, toxic waste — the core of our environmental protections. Companies will cut corners if they think they won’t get caught.” Bodine’s nomination comes while the Trump administration is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/us/politics/trump-white-house-government-ethics-lobbyists.html?_r=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">blocking efforts</a> to disclose waivers granted to former lobbyists working in federal agencies and the White House.Because the enforcement office handles negotiations between the companies responsible for the pollution and the EPA, Bodine would be in a position to decide how extensive some cleanups are — and how much polluters have to spend cleaning them.Bodine’s past lobbying could also compromise her role with the Superfund program. Seven of the companies that belong to the American Forest and Paper Association are named as responsible parties in dozens of Superfund sites, according to the EPA website. International Paper, one member of the group Bodine represented — whose CEO met with Pruitt last week to discuss jobs, according to a tweet from Pruitt — is a responsible party in 12 Superfund sites.</div><div class="Tweet" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><twitterwidget class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" id="twitter-widget-1" data-tweet-id="865255270003466241" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: static; visibility: visible; display: block; transform: rotate(0deg); max-width: 100%; width: 500px; min-width: 220px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><div data-twitter-event-id="2" class="SandboxRoot env-bp-350" style="direction: ltr; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.4; position: relative;"><div class="EmbeddedTweet EmbeddedTweet--edge EmbeddedTweet--mediaForward media-forward js-clickToOpenTarget js-tweetIdInfo tweet-InformationCircle-widgetParent" data-click-to-open-target="https://twitter.com/EPAScottPruitt/status/865255270003466241" data-iframe-title="Twitter Tweet" data-dt-full="%{hours12}:%{minutes} %{amPm} - %{day} %{month} %{year}" data-dt-explicit-timestamp="9:18 AM - May 18, 2017" data-dt-months="Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec" data-dt-am="AM" data-dt-pm="PM" data-dt-now="now" data-dt-s="s" data-dt-m="m" data-dt-h="h" data-dt-second="second" data-dt-seconds="seconds" data-dt-minute="minute" data-dt-minutes="minutes" data-dt-hour="hour" data-dt-hours="hours" data-dt-abbr="%{number}%{symbol}" data-dt-short="%{day} %{month}" data-dt-long="%{day} %{month} %{year}" data-scribe="page:tweet" data-tweet-id="865255270003466241" id="twitter-widget-1" lang="en" data-twitter-event-id="3" style="overflow: hidden; cursor: pointer; border: 0px; border-radius: 5px; max-width: 520px; position: relative;"><div class="EmbeddedTweet-tweet" style="padding: 14.4px 20px 11.6px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(225, 232, 237); border-image: initial; border-width: 0px 1px 1px; border-radius: 0px 0px 4px 4px;"><blockquote class="Tweet h-entry js-tweetIdInfo subject expanded" cite="https://twitter.com/EPAScottPruitt/status/865255270003466241" data-tweet-id="865255270003466241" data-scribe="section:subject" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; border: none;"><div class="Tweet-body e-entry-content" data-scribe="component:tweet" style="margin-top: 14px;">...i met w...role on the White House Manufacturing Jobs Initiative & manufacturing in USA.<div class="Tweet-metadata dateline" style="white-space: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 3.2px;"><a class="u-linkBlend u-url customisable-highlight long-permalink" data-datetime="2017-05-18T17:18:26+0000" data-scribe="element:full_timestamp" href="https://twitter.com/EPAScottPruitt/status/865255270003466241" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: inherit; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit;">9:18 AM - May 18, 2017</a></div><ul class="Tweet-actions" data-scribe="component:actions" role="menu" aria-label="Tweet actions" style="white-space: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 8.4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; border: none;"><li class="Tweet-action" style="display: inline-block;"><a class="TweetAction TweetAction--replyEdge web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=865255270003466241" data-scribe="element:reply" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;" /><div class="Icon Icon--reply TweetAction-icon Icon--replyEdge" aria-label="Reply" title="Reply" role="img" style="display: inline-block; height: 1.25em; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 1.25em; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" charset="utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%2024%2024%22%3E%3Cpath%20class%3D%22icon%22%20fill%3D%22%23657786%22%20d%3D%22M14.046%202.242l-4.148-.01h-.002c-4.374%200-7.8%203.427-7.8%207.802%200%204.098%203.186%207.206%207.465%207.37v3.828c0%20.108.045.286.12.403.143.225.385.347.633.347.138%200%20.277-.038.402-.118.264-.168%206.473-4.14%208.088-5.506%201.902-1.61%203.04-3.97%203.043-6.312v-.017c-.006-4.368-3.43-7.788-7.8-7.79zm3.787%2012.972c-1.134.96-4.862%203.405-6.772%204.643V16.67c0-.414-.334-.75-.75-.75h-.395c-3.66%200-6.318-2.476-6.318-5.886%200-3.534%202.768-6.302%206.3-6.302l4.147.01h.002c3.532%200%206.3%202.766%206.302%206.296-.003%201.91-.942%203.844-2.514%205.176z%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E" transform="transform" scalex="scaleX" xmlns:data="data"><a class="TweetAction TweetAction--replyEdge web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=865255270003466241" data-scribe="element:reply" style="background-color: transparent; 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overflow: hidden !important; width: 1px !important; height: 1px !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important;">Twitter Ads info and privacy</a></div><div class="resize-sensor" style="white-space: initial; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; z-index: -1; visibility: hidden;"><div class="resize-sensor-expand" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; z-index: -1; visibility: hidden;"><div style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; transition: 0s; width: 510px; height: 543px;"><div class="resize-sensor-shrink" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; z-index: -1; visibility: hidden;"><div style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; transition: 0s; width: 1000px; height: 1065.78px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;">According to <a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=processSearchCriteria" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">lobbying records</a>, Bodine also lobbied for Saint-Gobain Containers, a division of Saint-Gobain, one of two companies <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Hoosick-Falls-defends-Saint-Gobain-Honeywell-10884330.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">blamed</a> for contaminating the drinking water in Hoosick Falls, New York. She represented the company from 2010-2014 while she was a partner at <a href="http://www.btlaw.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Barnes & Thornburg</a>.That connection would make it inappropriate for her to weigh in on a decision about Hoosick Falls, according to Judith Enck, the former EPA regional administrator for region 2, who oversaw EPA’s work at Hoosick Falls before stepping down in January.“Once you’ve represented a company, even if it’s not directly on PFOA, you should recuse yourself because there’s the appearance — and likely the actuality — that there’s a conflict of interest,” said Enck.In a written statement provided to The Intercept, Saint-Gobain emphasized that it does not want its property in Hoosick Falls to be designated a Superfund site.<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; margin-left: 0px; padding-left: 1em; box-shadow: rgb(204, 204, 204) -6px 0px 0px -5px;">Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics opposes the proposed listing of our McCaffrey Street facility in Hoosick Falls, New York, on the National Priorities List. In our view, the Hazard Ranking System score for the site is based upon several errors and unsound assumptions that result in a far higher ranking than actual conditions at the site merit. We have made good progress with the State of New York in remediating the facility and the potentially impacted water supply wells around it, thereby eliminating any potential health or environmental hazards. Further involvement from the Federal Government, if confirmed as an NPL site, could potentially slow this effort.It’s important to remember that Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics is not a chemical company. We do not and never have manufactured PFOA. The PTFE we use comes from suppliers who in the past incorporated PFOA into some of their products. These suppliers and the US EPA forged an agreement to eliminate PFOA by 2016 in order to reduce the impact on the environment. Despite this, because we are an integral part of the communities where we operate, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics has paid for bottled water for affected residents, funded engineering design studies, and funded granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration systems and Point-of-Entry (POET) filtration systems where applicable.</blockquote>Susan Bodine, Albert Kelly, International Paper, the American Forest and Paper Association, and the EPA did not respond to requests for comment.Enck, who said that a federal Superfund designation would help delineate the plume of underground contamination in Hoosick Falls and bring additional resources to the cleanup, is also concerned because the final decision about the proposed Superfund sites, which was expected in March, is overdue. “Every expectation is that the Saint-Gobain site will be listed,” she said. “But we cannot rest easy until it happens.” If she is confirmed, Bodine could potentially have a say about the site’s designation, according to Enck.“A senior EPA official is always able to weigh in on important agency decisions,” said Enck. “She would likely be in the room when the future of the Saint-Gobain site is discussed.”Other EPA watchers are more concerned about Pruitt’s ability to fulfill his promise to improve the program with fewer resources. “The real threat right now is funding,” said Lenny Siegel, executive director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight. Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/budget.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">budget</a>, released yesterday, calls for cutting the EPA by 31 percent — more than any other agency. The White House document proposed cutting about 30 percent of the Superfund program’s almost $1.1 billion budget, which is itself a reduction from about $2 billion in 1999, according to a <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-812" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">2015 GAO Report</a>.In <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-113shrg98180/html/CHRG-113shrg98180.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">testimony</a> before a Senate hearing on Superfund in 2014, Bodine said she didn’t think most problems with the program were due to funding. Instead, she blamed some of the delays in cleanups on community members who block access to sites. “If the agency can’t get access to the site, they can’t do the cleanup,” she said, adding that she believed the agency was doing its best.A confirmation hearing for Susan Bodine is expected shortly and the new Superfund Task Force is due to issue its recommendations by the end of June.</div></div></div></div><div>==</div></div></div>