EPA Workers Join the #BootPruitt Effort to Oust Their Boss

(Bloomberg) -- The Environmental Protection Agency’s biggest union of employees has signed onto the movement that’s trying to get their boss, Administrator Scott Pruitt, fired.

The American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents about 8,000 of the EPA’s roughly 14,000 employees, has joined the boot Pruitt campaign, council president John O’Grady said in an interview Wednesday.

"Every step of the way it seems like he is doing what he can to keep the EPA from doing its job," said O’Grady. "He’s creating a real mess and I’m not sure he cares."

The boot Pruitt effort was started last month by environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club to call attention to Pruitt’s spending on first-class airfare and expensive security upgrades through TV ads and digital billboards. The movement, using the #BootPruitt hashtag on Twitter, gained momentum after reports emerged of Pruitt’s unorthodox $50-a-night condo arrangement and big pay increases for two close aides. emerged it gained momentum with Democratic lawmakers joining in using the campaign’s.

"He’s not a good administrator," said O’Grady. He doesn’t have his heart in the right place to protect human health and the environment."

Despite the efforts of opponents, those who have publicly voiced support for Pruitt range from top Republicans on Capitol Hill to President Donald Trump himself. And the EPA says Pruitt is a key player in Trump’s quest to lessen regulations.

“From advocating to leave the Paris Accord, working to repeal Obama’s Clean Power Plan and Waters of the United States, declaring a war on lead and cleaning up toxic Superfund sites, Administrator Pruitt is focused on advancing President Trump’s agenda of regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship," EPA spokesman, Jahan Wilcox, said in an email.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Natter in Washington at anatter5@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.