EPA More Than Chummy W. Chemical Industry, To The Point Of Helping W. Job For Lobbyist's Husband
Newly-released emails between top officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and chemical lobbyists show that the industry has kept a close relationship to the agency both before and after the departure of former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, under whose tenure the agency relaxed chemical regulations.
According to conversations over the past two years, EPA officials have been actively meeting with members of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and maintaining warm connections with the industry trade association. And on at least one occasion, that coziness has extended to an ACC senior director reaching out to an EPA official to ask for help with finding their husband a “senior level position” with the agency.
Emails obtained by the Sierra Club through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and shared with ThinkProgress show Komal K. Jain, a senior director with ACC, wrote to Nancy Beck at the EPA on August 4, 2017. Prior to joining the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention in May 2017, Beck worked as a senior director at the ACC.
In the email — entitled “hiring?” — Jain asked her former colleague about potentially looking into an EPA position for her husband. “I’d love to catch up whenever you can clear your calendar for lunch or a cocktail,” Jain wrote, noting that she heard Beck “may be hiring for several positions.” “I’m not inquiring for myself, but for my husband Craig who has been in the environmental arena for a long time. In fact, he is a former EPA employee; he was with the Energy Star program for several years.”
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In response, Beck asked if he might be interested in a “political position” and invited Jain to send her husband’s resume. She did so on August 7 in an email that has been largely redacted. No further communication is immediately available in the exchange. An EPA spokesperson told ThinkProgress that Jain’s husband was never considered for a position within the agency. Jain similarly responded to a request for comment and said that the emails were sent on “a pure personal matter” and that her husband did not speak or meet with Beck, nor did he interview with the agency.
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https://thinkprogress.org/emails-chemical-acc-pruitt-beck-wehrum-acc-epa-trump-ethics-24dfb9e502b8/
