The EPA press office issued a shrill Fact Check about this NYT article, below, and I wrote a Twitter thread about the release, here: https://twitter.com/JohnDWalke/status/1217129624926289922

New York Times Continues Campaign Against Trump Administration

All the News That Fits the Agenda to Print

WASHINGTON (Jan. 14, 2020) — Today, The New York Times continued its march to irrelevance through extreme bias, launching an interactive hit list on the Trump Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The frame of the piece is intended to negatively portray current EPA officials' private and public sector careers prior to joining the Administration. Furthermore, the Times refused to include any of the nearly 250 word response EPA provided to the publication as key information and context for the story. Please see below for the Agency's official response to the latest New York Times hit piece. 

Under the Trump Administration, the focus has been to employ staff who are best suited to implement the President’s agenda and fulfill the mission of EPA. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that this administration has brought on staff who have experience dealing with the Agency and were instrumental in improving environmental results throughout the country, after the previous administration’s focus on virtue signaling rather than implementing legal rules.

EPA has hired 130 political appointees of all kinds of experience and seniority. Most of which continue to work at EPA although was have had some turnover similar to any Administration. We have focused our hiring on some of the very best in experience from the broad regulated community, state and federal government, and the NGO sector. For example, each of our regional administrators has substantial experience in government at either the state or federal level with many having served previously at state environmental agency directors. For example at headquarters, we have recruited some of the very best assistant administrators with years of experience in their fields bringing with them the ability to resolve long running issues at EPA. The example for all staff is set at the top as EPA has one of the most well versed and experienced in environmental policy Administrators in the agency’s history. 

As always, every EPA employee, career and political, receives ethics training and continually meets with ethics officials regarding any conflicts.

Visit The EPA's Newsroom

From: Combined Project <cdp@groups.b-team.org> on behalf of Erin Auel <eauel@partnershipproject.org>
Reply-To: Erin Auel <eauel@partnershipproject.org>
Date: Tuesday, January 14, 2020 at 12:38 PM
To: Combined Project <cdp@groups.b-team.org>, "DOISec@groups.b-team.org" <DOISec@groups.b-team.org>, "apl-action@groups.b-team.org" <apl-action@groups.b-team.org>
Subject: [cdp] Please amplify - NYT article on Trump officials' ties to industry

Hi all—

Sharing some social guidance on a New York Times interactive delving into the industry and anti-environment backgrounds of the top environmental officials across the Trump administration. Please amplify!

Q: Who Controls Trump’s Environmental Policy?
[Insert line break]
A: Why the #DirtyDeputies of course!
[Insert line break]  
Many of the most powerful people tapped to protect our environment have ties to the fossil fuel industry, it's time to put #PeopleOverPolluters! https://nyti.ms/2FPrOCx

Trump's officials tasked with protecting our air, water, and great outdoors "overwhelmingly used to work in the fossil fuel, chemical & agriculture industries." Enough of the #DirtyDeputies; we need to put #PeopleOverPolluters and dump these cronies! https://nyti.ms/2FPrOCx

❌@EPAAWheeler
❌Peter Wright (former Dow Chemical attorney)
❌Anne Idsal (sued EPA)
❌Nancy Beck (lobbied to weaken chemical rules)
❌David Ross (sued EPA)
Trump's @EPA is full of #DirtyDeputies! We need to protect our air & water, not polluter profits! https://nyti.ms/2FPrOCx

❌@SecBernhardt
❌Douglas Domenech
❌William Perry #Pendley
❌Scott Angelle
❌Aurelia Skipwith
❌James Reilly
❌Daniel Jorjani
Trump's @Interior is full of #DirtyDeputies! We need to protect our #PublicLands, not polluter profits! https://nyti.ms/2FPrOCx

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