Sen. Tom Carper continues to push back against what he sees as the Trump Administration’s effort to tear down the Environmental Protection Agency.
Carper said two category 5 hurricanes hitting the U.S. in the same year indicates a changing climate, making it a poor time to weaken the agency primarily responsible for protecting public health and the environment.
Carper is the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He’s been sharply critical of EPA Secretary Tom Pruitt and his actions. He complained Pruitt has ignored oversight requests.
“This administration has basically said to their the folks their senior officers in different departments, you don’t have to respond to most of the folks in the Senate," he said. "You don’t have to respond, which is unheard of, unbelievable.”
Carper believes the U.S. can turn around some of the impact climate change is having around the country, but the EPA needs to take the lead.
“People in this country don’t want to drink dirty water, they don’t want to breathe dirty air, they don’t want to see our beautiful landscapes despoiled," he said. "And so we’ll get through this. It’s a tough patch, but we’ll get through it.”
Carper said the EPA is under assault from political appointees of the Trump administration cutting its budget and raising ethical concerns. He specifically questions the EPA’s decision to delete information showing that protecting watersheds and tributaries would help the economy more than it would hurt it.
The Government Accountability Office has said it will review hiring practices and whether the EPA is complying with ethics rules.
