Four Democratic senators have asked U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt to explain why he told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing that he would examine the issue of collecting information from the oil and gas industry on methane emissions but then reversed course six weeks later.
NAACP President Cornell Brooks, members of his organization's IN chapter and East Chicago community leaders wrote a list of demands to present at that meeting.
Pruitt toured the complex with IN officials, including Gov. Eric Holcomb and Sen.
Rumors have circulated Pruitt plans to cut the nearby Chicago EPA office and move it to Kansas, but a report stated he had no plans to visit the office and could instead attend a Cubs game.
Brooks says Pruitt, Holcomb, and other IN lawmakers were invited to participate IN the NAACP meeting, but declined to attend. However, he didn't offer any details in his 90-second statement.
Local officials, including Indiana's Republican governor, Eric Holcomb, urged Pruitt to visit the site and address the issues surrounding the cleanup process, which has been lagging for several years.
Pruitt will be in the region on Wednesday to visit a lead contaminated housing complex in East Chicago, Indiana, just 30 minutes south of Chicago.
Chanting crowds weaved through streets of East Chicago on Wednesday near a Superfund site. East Chicago Utilities Director Greg Crowley told the Times of Northwest Indiana that it would have been "helpful if [the EPA] had been more hands-on" in helping the city make the switch to different chemicals.
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EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is expected to tour the complex with Indiana's top elected officials.
It was Copeland who ordered the evacuation of the West Calumet residents last summer.
Forty-four-year-old Demetra Turner says finding a solution is the fight of her life. In recent weeks, Pruitt has moved to scrap or delay numerous EPA regulations enacted during the Obama administration to curb air and water pollution from fossil fuel operations.
"EPA is continuing to follow through with President Trump's energy independence executive order", Pruitt said in a statement.
Under the administration's plan, 3,000 EPA employees nationwide would lose their jobs.
Ahead of his visit, environmental advocates said they were hopeful that the administrator's arrival might signal additional support for East Chicago's residents, although they also said they have yet to see any indications of pending action.
Last month's revelation that the White House wants to slash the EPA budget by nearly a third sent a shock through the industry, and now details are leaking out about how those cuts might be accomplished.
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