6 former EPA bosses call for agency reset after election

Six former Environmental Protection Agency chiefs are calling for an agency reset after President Donald Trump’s regulation-chopping, industry-minded first term, backing a detailed plan by former EPA staffers that ranges from renouncing political influence in regulation to boosting climate-friendly electric vehicles.

Most living former EPA heads joined in Wednesday's appeal, with Trump’s first EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, being the notable exception. The group — William Reilly, Lee Thomas, Carol Browner, Christine Todd Whitman, Lisa Jackson and Gina McCarthy — served under Republican and Democratic presidents.

The Environmental Protection Network, a bipartisan group of more than 500 former EPA senior managers and employees, crafted the hundreds of pages of recommendations for a change of course at the agency.

The group said the road map was meant to guide whatever administration the Nov. 3 presidential election puts in place, although many of the proposals are implicitly or explicitly critical of Trump EPA actions. The former EPA heads’ accompanying statement did not mention Trump but said they were “concerned about the current state of affairs at EPA.”

EPA spokesman James Hewitt responded Wednesday, saying EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler "is proud of our record addressing environmental problems impacting Americans." He cited the current EPA's work on Superfund sites, lead contamination and air.

Wheeler “won’t be taking ‘reset’ advice from administrators who ignored the Flint lead crisis, botched the Gold King Mine response, and encouraged New Yorkers to breath contaminated air at Ground Zero,” Hewitt said in an email, referencing the drinking water contamination in Flint, Michigan, and a waste water spill in Colorado.

Some of the reset recommendations were aimed at the Trump era, such as...