Pruitt met Wednesday afternoon with Gov. Eric Holcomb and IN lawmakers IN a closed briefing about the USS Lead Superfund site IN East Chicago. They fear that the dramatic budget cuts proposed for the EPA - including the rumored closing of its Region 5 office in downtown Chicago - could potentially hinder cleanup efforts.
Residents of the housing complex in IN were joined by environmental activists as they protested nearby before Pruitt arrived. Some 330 were living there when the mayor called last summer for residents to be relocated.
The Natural Resources Defense Council told CNN that Pruitt has yet to respond to its request for more EPA assistance and oversight in the lead problem in East Chicago's drinking water.
Pruitt, has reportedly faced criticism from receiving contributions from the fossil fuel industry and questioning climate change science.
Demonstrators rallied in the lead-contaminated community to protest Pruitt's visit.
In 2014, "the US EPA paid incentives of about $11.3 million to get 456 employees to voluntarily leave the agency, plus accumulated annual leave payments of $4.9 million, for a total of $16.2 million", O'Grady said. They cried foul over his decision to skip meeting with them at the Chicago regional office.
"If you close our office, the ability to protect the Great Lakes would be in danger".
Still, officials called his visit to East Chicago significant. In a memo to agency officials, Mike Flynn, the EPA's acting deputy administrator, said the goal was to complete the cutsby June. That includes financial help to make sure that happens.
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However, it's not clear if rumors of office closures are true.
Barbara Bolling-Williams, state president of the IN branch of the NAACP, said she is cautiously optimistic following Pruitt's visit, but added that his visit comes with the threat of "a skinnier EPA budget, fewer regulations - and rumors Chicago's regional EPA office could be shut down looms IN the background".
Michael J. Mikulka, president of Local 704, said the union never received a response to its invitation. Career EPA employees have raised concerns about proposed staff cuts and plans to undo some environmental protection regulations under the leadership of new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Pruitt on Wednesday visited a Superfund site for the first time in his tenure, something elected officials from both parties noted.
"Seeing the face of the affected persons makes a difference".
Pruitt toured the complex with IN officials, including Gov. Eric Holcomb and Sen. But he also wishes leaders like Holcomb and Pruitt will spend more time speaking with residents directly.
The lead-and-arsenic contaminated 346-unit housing complex was built in the early 1970s on the footprint of a former lead smelter.
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