The Environmental Protection Agency spent $45,000 to send two staffers and three security agents to Australia in August to conduct advance work for Administrator Scott Pruitt’s planned meetings with Australian officials, but the meetings were later cancelled due to Hurricane Harvey, Reuters reported Thursday.
The news of the EPA’s spending on the advance work comes as Pruitt is under fire for taking first class domestic flights, building an expensive sound booth in his office, and renting a room in a lobbyist’s condo.
The EPA staffers’ business class flights to Australia were permitted as aides can fly business class for long flights. EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox told Reuters that the flights were “not news” and that the staffers were “adhering to the federal government’s travel policy.” Wilcox told Reuters that they have not yet rescheduled the meetings because they must take place while the Australian parliament is in session.
Read Reuters’ full report on the trip here.
Budgeted money went to waste due to the intervention of a natural disaster, demanding the attention of those that planned to take the trip. This is a story?
I guess Pruitt was supposed to cancel Hurricane Harvey?
Scott, how hot does it have to get in the kitchen before you consider getting out.
The speed with which new examples of your venality ad profligacy spill out into the public are coming from inside your proverbial house. It’s only going to keep getting hotter.
Agreed. While Pruitt should be fired for his stupidity and mismanagement, this could not be helped. However, I question why a security detail was needed for top aides.
Pruitt owns 5% of Kevlar, Inc.
The security guys probably went along not to protect the aides, but to confer, converse, and otherwise hobnob with their brother security Ozzies.
The bigger question is why Pruitt was going to Australia in the first place. While there’s certainly an international component to the work of the EPA, I would expect the bulk of its business to be domestic. But jetting off to the Quad Cities doesn’t have much allure.