Did you catch this Associated Press story on A1 of the Intell today?:
The Environmental Protection Agency is telling its enforcement personnel not to talk with congressional investigators and reporters, and even the agency’s own inspector general, according to an internal e-mail provided to The Associated Press.
The June 16 e-mail tells 11 officials in the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance to remind its staff to not respond to questions or make any statements. Instead, officials were told to forward inquiries to a designated representative.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility obtained the e-mail and provided it to the AP. Jeff Ruch, its executive director, says the document reinforces what he called a “bunker mentality” within EPA.
EPA said the memo was aimed at improving efficiency.
Odd, isn’t it, that people with half a year left to serve at the EPA would be so concerned about efficiency of information? Where was this in 2001 or 2005 or even last year?
What’s most troublesome is this may be a signal of a coming battle over open space and the exploitation of the environment. From USA Today:
Environmentalists are bracing for a final battle with the Bush administration over its efforts to weaken clean water, air and toxic waste regulations before a new president moves into the White House.
With only about six months left in office, the administration is proposing rule changes that would repeal a 25-year ban on loaded guns in national parks, ease air pollution regulations on power plants near the parks, exempt factory farms from key provisions of the Clean Water and Clean Air acts, allow mountaintop mining near streams, and make it easier to dump hazardous waste into the recycling system.
Keeping EPA regional managers from speaking to Congressional investigators is a sign the Bush administration is girding up for one more final battle before Jan. 20, 2009.
