{"id":530,"date":"2017-04-11T18:41:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T18:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nortonspeaks.com\/?p=530"},"modified":"2017-04-11T18:41:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T18:41:25","slug":"epa-staff-openly-mocking-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nortonspeaks.com\/index.php\/2017\/04\/11\/epa-staff-openly-mocking-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA staff \u2018openly mocking\u2019 Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to:\u00a0Joe Romm<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 https:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/@jromm<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Joe Romm is Founding Editor of Climate Progress, \u201cthe indispensable blog,\u201d as NY Times columnist Tom Friedman describes it.<\/p>\n

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EPA staff \u2018openly mocking\u2019 Trump\u2019s \u2018arrogant and callous\u2019 policies, says\u00a0retiree<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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30-year veteran compares EPA chief\u2019s climate denial to lies tobacco executives told\u00a0Congress<\/h4>\n

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President Donald Trump, with (from left) Vice President Mike Pence, EPA chief Scott Pruitt, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, speaks at EPA\u2019s DC headquarters on March 28, before signing the executive order to start reversing President Obama\u2019s Climate policies. CREDIT: AP\/Pablo Martinez Monsivais<\/p>\n

Mike Cox retired after three decades at the Environmental Protection Agency on March 31 with a\u00a0scathing letter<\/a>\u00a0for EPA administrator Scott Pruitt.<\/h4>\n

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Team Trump is apparently an open joke to their staff\u200a\u2014\u200asomething even the Reagan and Bush administrations never experienced. Morale has collapsed, Cox notes.<\/h4>\n

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\u201cI have worked under six administrations with political appointees leading EPA from both parties,\u201d Cox wrote on his last day on the job. \u201cThis is the first time I remember staff openly dismissing and mocking the environmental policies of an administration and by extension you.\u201d<\/h4>\n

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The 60-year-old Cox, who worked on climate change for EPA\u2019s Region 10, which covers Alaska and the northwest, was especially harsh on Pruitt\u2019s science denial.<\/h4>\n

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Cox called Pruitt\u2019s claim on national TV that CO2 is not a primary contributor to recent global warming \u201cshocking\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200aand directly compared it to the congressional hearing with the CEOs of the major tobacco companies where \u201call of the CEOs categorically denied that smoking causes lung cancer.\u201d<\/h4>\n

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What\u2019s the result of this denial? \u201cYou will continue to undermine your credibility and integrity with EPA staff, and the majority of the public,\u201d Cox wrote, \u201cif you continue to question this basic science of climate change.\u201d<\/h4>\n

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In the five-page letter, Cox slams the president for the \u201cfalse and misleading\u201d claim that killing EPA carbon pollution standards will bring back coal jobs.<\/h4>\n

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In a section on \u201cindefensible budget cuts,\u201d Cox slams Pruitt for standing by while the White House gutted the overall EPA budget. These cuts have real consequences for real people, he says.<\/h4>\n

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Cox directly asks Pruitt:<\/h4>\n

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