DEM: PRUITT ISN’T COOPERATING WITH ‘PRIVACY BOOTH’ PROBE: The top Senate Democrat overseeing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) accused the agency Monday of not cooperating with a high-profile spending investigation.
Sen. Tom Udall (N.M.) implored EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to cooperate with the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) probe into the more than $43,000 the agency spent to install a “privacy booth.”
Udall, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee for EPA, said in a letter that the agency has not provided documents to the GAO, despite investigators’ multiple contacts.
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“I am alarmed that the EPA has failed — for nearly three months — to cooperate with GAO’s requests,” Udall wrote.
“The American people deserve an open and transparent budget process,” he added. “Given your role as a public servant and trustee of taxpayer funds, it is your fundamental responsibility to fully cooperate with GAO.”
GAO spokesman Chuck Young confirmed Udall’s characterization.
“The senator is correct — we have not yet received a formal response from EPA on this particular issue,” he said.
But the EPA said Udall is wrong.
“We do dispute that,” said EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox. “We are responding through the proper channels which presently include EPA’s Office of General Counsel answering questions from the Government Accountability Office.”
Udall’s new letter also takes issue with the EPA repeatedly referring to the booth as a sensitive compartmentalized information facility (SCIF), which denotes specific certifications for communications involving confidential government information.
“The agency communicated to this committee that the privacy booth would not be certified by any national security agency,” Udall wrote.
Read more here.
TRIBE CLASHES WITH ZINKE OVER BORDER WALL: A Native American tribal leader whose territory straddles the Arizona-Mexico border is criticizing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for his suggestion that building a wall would increase security, saying it would have “substantial negative impacts.”
The chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation said in a letter to Zinke on Saturday that the tribe opposes a “fortified” wall, adding that the tribe has enacted dozens of resolutions against it.
“It is equally clear to us that construction of a wall simply will not further the objective of security the border,” Edward Manuel, the tribe’s chairman wrote. “Accordingly, the construction of a wall along the Nation’s border will waste taxpayer money that would be much better spent on more effective safety measures.”
The comments followed Zinke’s visit to the Arizona border on Saturday. While there, he tweeted a number of photos thanking Border Patrol agents, as well as one that called his meeting with Manuel “productive” and said the two had a shared interest in building a wall.
Read more here.
SIERRA CLUB POLL SHOWS SWING STATE SUPPORT FOR RENEWABLES: Most voters in a handful of swing states support transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy for their electricity needs, an environmental group found.
The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll, conducted on behalf of the Sierra Club in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Colorado, shows that most respondents in each state would back a state policy mandating 100 percent renewable electricity from sources like wind and solar power.
The support for the measures also grew in almost all of the states since similar polling last year.
While those surveyed who identify as Democrats were more likely to support the measures, a majority of Republican respondents in Ohio and Pennsylvania also support the 100 percent goal.
Voters are also more likely to back candidates who support 100 percent renewables, the survey found.
The results come as the midterm congressional elections are starting to ramp up and as the 2020 presidential election approaches. They serve as a potential warning to candidates to support renewable-energy policies or face possible voter backlash.
“The overarching message is that from the Colorado Rockies to the coast of Virginia, the public and the United States is ready for 100 percent clean, renewable energy,” Jodie Van Horn, director of the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign, told The Hill.
“We have a lot of different reasons to support that goal. The public knows that clean energy is not just an opportunity to solve the climate crisis, it’s also a way to create jobs and reduce pollution and stabilize our energy bills for the long haul.”
Read more here.
ON TAP TUESDAY I: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to examine Trump’s 2019 budget request for the Department of Energy. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will testify.
ON TAP TUESDAY II: The House Natural Resources Committee’s federal lands subcommittee will hold a hearing on two bills on national parks.
Rest of Tuesday’s agenda …
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment subcommittee will hold a hearing on Trump’s 2019 budget request for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s subcommittee on emergency management will hold a hearing on the impacts from last year’s wildfire season.
The House Appropriations Committee’s subpanel on energy and water will hold a hearing on Trump’s 2019 budget request for the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
AROUND THE WEB: Bankrupt refiner Philadelphia Energy Solutions owes Pennsylvania $3.8 billion in back taxes, StateImpact Pennsylvania reports.
A brush fire in southeastern Australia has destroyed 69 homes and is still burning, ABC reports.
A Washington, D.C., council member pushed a conspiracy theory over the weekend, posting a video online in which he says that a Jewish business dynasty controls the climate, the Washington Post reports.
FROM THE HILL’S OPINION SECTION:
Abache Abreu, senior editor for LNG News and Analysis, calls China’s liquid natural gas interests a game changer.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out stories from Monday and the weekend …
-Tribe clashes with Zinke on need for Mexican border wall
-Senate Dem: Pruitt isn’t cooperating with ‘privacy booth’ probe
-Safety inspectors to spend more time on offshore drilling platforms
-Greens’ poll shows support for renewable energy transition in swing states
-Week ahead: Energy budget in the spotlight
-Pro-Trump singer pens op-ed asking him not to shrink national monuments
-Saudi energy deal push sparks nuclear weapon concerns
-Zinke defends use of Japanese word: How could saying good morning ‘be bad’?