I missed this exchange today. This is the person being asked to run the Environmental Protection Agency, which doesn’t just protect the “environment” — it protects us — and our kids.
WASHINGTON ― President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency said at his confirmation hearing Wednesday that he didn’t know one of the most basic things about drinking water safety.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) asked Scott Pruitt if “there is any safe level of lead that can be taken into the human body.”
The answer is a simple “no,” but somehow Pruitt didn’t say that.
“Senator, that is something I have not reviewed nor know about,” said Pruitt, the attorney general of Oklahoma.
“I would be very concerned about any level of lead going into the drinking water or obviously human consumption,” he continued, “but I’ve not looked at a scientific research on that.”
Pruitt shouldn’t need to look at the scientific research ― someone could just tell him. It’s not remotely controversial that lead, a deadly neurotoxin, can cause a host of health problems even in low doses. It can stunt children’s growth and permanently damage their young brains. Lead exposure has emerged as a plausible explanation for the rise and fall of violent crime in the 20th century.
This shocks the conscience. I would think that everyone knows about lead — anyone who’s ever rented or bought a house, or taken kids to the pediatrician. If you don’t know it in a position like Pruitt’s, it’s because you were looking really hard in the other direction.
If ignoring climate change weren’t bad enough (it is); and if copying a letter from an oil company and campaign contributor to send on to the EPA weren’t enough (it is); this exchange is just the capper on a nomination dripping with contempt for the public health and safety. It’s an absolute scandal straight out of the box.
The mask is off, and no Republican or Democrat who would like to claim environmental credentials at all (Collins, Graham, McCain, Murkowski, etc) can be shielded from moral responsibility.
Yes, I do have a litmus test: If you don’t know that lead mentally cripples kids, permanently — you have no business running a hardware store, much less the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s a simple, obvious, and startling cutoff point between mere incompetence and outright villainy.
There is no “safe level” of Scott Pruitt in the US government.
PS: Another thing — Pruitt rejects the idea that mercury pollution is a health hazard. (Remember what used to happen when someone broke a thermometer in middle school science class? Pandemonium.)
johntmay says
A Secretary of the Department of Education who is unaware of the proficiency versus growth debate – a woman who has never taught in or had ANY experience in public education. The EPA headed by a man who does not know what the safe level of lead in water is? A US Attorney General who thinks that only religious people can tell the difference between what it moral and what it not? A “blind trust” that is managed by his sons and someone he hand picked?
Charlie said he did not vote for Trump. Charlie said he’d wait and see before commenting.
Charlie: How much more do you need to see?
Hello? Charlie? Anyone? Bueller?
JimC says
DeVos would not rule out guns in schools. That’s my winner on the WTF scale.
Christopher says
n/t
theloquaciousliberal says
n/t
Mark L. Bail says
people who were diametrically opposed to the polices they would oversee. It’s hard to see the reason. There seems to be more thought involved in his choices than usual. Maybe it’s his transition team. Governance doesn’t seem to be on the agenda.
ljtmalden says
Agreed. As far as I can tell, the reason is that many republicans in congress see their victory as permission to dismantle not only the New Deal, but also much of the executive branch and long-standing institutions such as public schooling.
fredrichlariccia says
WHILE THE WORST ARE FILLED WITH PASSIONATE INTENSITY.” ANON
I’ve been watching these hearings in horror. These nominees are shameful shills for the very corrupt special interests they should be protecting us against. They must all be blocked !
Citizens ! Stand up. Speak out. Fight back.
Democracy, now and forever !
Fred Rich LaRiccia
johntmay says
We are little different from Russia; a nation with a history of being occupied by shills for the special interest.
Fight Back As ONE.
bob-gardner says
from “The Second Coming” Thanks to my dear friend JB for supplying the titile
tblade says
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Washington to be born?
TheBestDefense says
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
nopolitician says
The mistake here is presuming that Trump voters would share a similar outrage as you. They do not. They simply do not care.
Why not? Because they do not believe that the EPA serves a function. They actually believe that the agency is harmful to them. They have been told this repeatedly by conservative leaders.
You cannot shake that belief via mockery. I doubt you can even shake it via statistics. You need to make it personal. You need to find examples where the lack of an EPA will make their lives or the lives of people they worse off. You need to pound on that pressure point until it breaks. Why? Because conservatives are telling them that the EPA is making their house renovations more expensive (which is both believable and true). Conservatives are telling them that the EPA is killing jobs (still believable, and probably less true). Conservatives are telling them that the EPA is an example of waste in government (not very believable by most, and most definitely not true).
The same goes for the department of education. Trump voters do not care that DeVos is unqualified. They do not believe that the DOE serves a purpose. So find the Trump voters who have kids on an IEP. Show them that this will go away under DeVos. Find Trump voters who like their public schools. Show them what will happen when the funds go away. Show them what will happen when 25% of the students leave but the district is left with the fixed costs. Scare them a bit with visions of Sharia schools if you have to.
Above all make it personal, because it is most certainly not personal to them. They are treating this like a movie, and so far they are enjoying both the show and the liberal outrage.
Christopher says
…I’d like to think most Americans understand the value of being qualified for the job for which you are being hired. After all, most Americans would be expected to be qualified for any job for which they might apply.
jconway says
6 6’s for you.
Politics is about people, not policy. People like stories over pie charts and personal connections to leaders that feel their pain over ten point agendas approved by a wonky committee.
Trotting out celebrities and experts just reinforces the narrative that the elite are out of touch and getting their commupence
petr says
… that you argue that Trump voters have been fooled. Yes. Heartily agree.
To the extent that many Trump voters think that neither the EPA nor the Department Of Education serves a purpose, I disagree.
The EPA, to the conservative voter, is the antithesis of the ‘laissez-faire’ in which they place all of their trust. It’s purpose, to them, is not environmental protection, but authoritarian
The Department of Education was elevated to Cabinet status by Jimmy Carter in a re-organization of HUD and Justice Department functions, mainly enforcement of Civil Rights laws in regards to education, that were distributed widely across several departments. Jimmy Carter made it the ‘tip of the spear’ for Civil Rights enforcement — a role in which it has succeeded — and opposition to it rests upon the same ‘states rights’ arguments that have informed many a conservative malignity for many a decade now.
The dilemna is that, to the authoritarian mindset, lacking empathy as they do, any and all forces arrayed against them cannot be viewed as anything other than authoritarian themselves. I
Christopher says
While a few functions may have moved around among other departments as well, Education and HHS were mostly the offspring of the former Health, Education, and Welfare department.