Admin Blocked Publication Of Water Contamination Report Over Fear Of PR ‘Nightmare’

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, June 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
FILE - In this June 2, 2017, file photo, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. Newly obtained emails underscor... FILE - In this June 2, 2017, file photo, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. Newly obtained emails underscore just how closely Pruitt coordinated with fossil fuel companies while serving as Oklahoma’s state attorney general, a position in which he frequently sued to block federal efforts to curb planet-warming carbon emissions. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) MORE LESS
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The Environmental Protection Agency and the White House took measures to block the publication of a report on a nationwide water-contamination crisis because of concerns it would cause a “public relations nightmare,” Politico reported Monday. 

The report by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) was set to publish in January, disclosing that a dangerous level of toxic chemicals had contaminated water near military bases and other areas from New York to Michigan to West Virginia. The study would also reveal that the chemicals are riskier to human health at a level lower than what the EPA has previously deemed safe, Politico reported. 

According to an email obtained by Politico, one White House aide warned early this year that the “reaction” to the report would be “huge” and “extremely painful” to the EPA and the Department of Defense. 

“The public, media and Congressional reaction to these numbers is going to be huge,” one unidentified White House aide said in an email obtained by Politico. “The impact to EPA and [the Defense Department] is going to be extremely painful. We (DoD and EPA) cannot seem to get ATSDR to realize the potential public relations nightmare this is going to be.”

The water contamination report has still not been published, according to Politico. 

Read the full story here.

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Notable Replies

  1. So…government sites are poisoning our water and the government is covering that up.

    Forget contacting your member of Congress- the spineless GOP quislings will do NOTHING to save America.

    Run for office. Register people to vote. Get to the polls.

    THIS IS NOT NORMAL.

  2. "…We (DoD and EPA) cannot seem to get ATSDR to realize the potential public relations nightmare this is going to be.

    Sounds like a cover up.

  3. Meanwhile, the guy at the top is a globetrotting tourist except when he is renting rooms at cut rate prices from lobbyists. No wonder he’s paranoid and employs bodyguards 24/7. Asshole.

  4. Ahhhh…so all those poisoned by contaminated water are just so much collateral damage? Meanwhile, we spend $500 million on advertising for Wilbur Ross and we build bomb shelters for Pruitt and the fan damily of Trumpsters flies around in first class? WTF is wrong with this picture???

  5. Fucking bastards are a danger to every person on earth. VOTE THEM OUT. Pennsylvania posters, I’ll see you at the polls TODAY.

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