Federal court rules that Scott Pruitt’s sham EPA can’t ban scientists from its scientific advisory board

boing
1

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/02/19/federal-court-rules-that-scott.html

…

6 Likes
2

Scott Pruitt showed his character as the Oklahoma Attorney General. He was elected, in part, due to generous campaign contributions by various Arkansas chicken farming companies whose effluent ended up polluting Oklahoma waterways. There was a lawsuit in progress to get them to stop.

Among his first acts as Oklahoma Attorney General was to drop the lawsuit.

He’s a real piece of work, a perfect fit for the ⊥rump administration, except he was too swampy for those early days when there was still a little veneer of respectability, a little polish on the turd that is the GOP.

16 Likes
3

Pruitt claimed that his 2017 directive reduced bias on the EPA’s nearly two dozen advisory panels, which offer scientific expertise that then guide policy decisions on environmental pollutants, such as industrial chemicals or airborne particles from power plants.

This is actually true, however, so long as you define “bias” as “opinions different than my preferred conclusions”.

10 Likes
4

It’s always comforting when the American legal system prevents the American legal system from legally screwing over Americans.

Destroying the independent judiciary will be agenda item #1 for Biff’s second term.

16 Likes
5

barring scientists from participating on the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board if they had ever received a grant from the EPA

This is nuts on the face of it. It’s avoiding “conflicts of interest” only if you don’t think about it too hard. What it’s saying is that any scientist who has done research in the public interest can’t be trusted to… work for the public interest. Yeah, makes sense.

14 Likes
6

This was an egregious power grab blatantly fenced exactly as poster described intended to cut out actual scientists so people could just straight-up fucking pollute.

Thank God there is still someone with a spine also connected to a rational brain in Judiciary somewhere

I can’t believe this creature heads the EPA

8 Likes
7

“Oh when will these libtard maverick Judges stop legislating from the bench?” - some republican that tRump wears like a condom

5 Likes
8

Already mostly done.

(note: this doesn’t imply that 3 in 4 are good; the judiciary was already heavily corrupted to begin with)

But he couldn’t have done it without a lot of help from the Dem establishment.

8 Likes
9

Normally I have nothing against cosplay; and think some of it is pretty cool; but it is really depressing when it worms its way into governance.

2 Likes
10

And, when people get “encouraged” by the mass resignations at the Department of Justice, they should then be all the more discouraged: just who is Barr going to hire to replace the ethical people who resigned? Thoroughly supine and unethical people who will eagerly carry out the tasks that caused the first group to resign.

6 Likes
11

I believe only one resigned from the department. The other three withdrew from the case, but kept their jobs.

1 Like
12

He resigned exactly one year after he was appointed.

From the Wikipedia article I linked above:

Wanna read his resignation letter?

Source for above resignation letter: Scott Pruitt resignation: The full text of EPA head's letter to Trump

3 Likes
13

Ah yeah, forgot he resigned. What a toady suck up POS

2 Likes
14

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.