GMW: New EPA Research Head Comes With Tight Corporate Ties

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GMW: New EPA Research Head Comes With Tight Corporate Ties

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Sat, 8 Oct 2005 23:07:54 +0100

 

 

 

 

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EXCERPTS: the " list of George Gray's corporate sponsors reads like a

murderer's row of the top polluters in the country. "

 

Since President George W. Bush took office, the EPA has nearly doubled

the number of research-and-development agreements with industry

associations and companies... The American Chemical Council, the nation's

largest chemical industry lobby, is the agency's biggest partner...

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New EPA Research Head Comes With Tight Corporate Ties

by Brendan Coyne

The New Standard, October 7 2005

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2455

 

Charging that the Environmental Protection Agency is increasingly

falling under the grasp of corporate interests, a coalition of government

employees yesterday urged federal lawmakers to deny a top spot within the

agency to a White House nominee who is a strong free-market advocate

with tight corporate ties.

 

The US Senate is set to vote to confirm George M. Gray as the

second-in-command at the EPA Office of Research and Development. The

ORD studies

the science, costs and benefits behind proposed EPA rules.

 

Currently, Gray is the director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis

and a lecturer at the university.

 

According to information compiled by the Center for Media and

Democracy, Gray is affiliated with several pro-business organizations,

including

the Environmental Literacy Council (ELC), a nonprofit funded by a

number of groups with ties to the energy, chemical and defense

industries.

Among the ELC's backers are conservative operations such as the John M.

Olin Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Koch Family

Foundations.

 

In a statement yesterday, Jeff Ruch, the executive director of Public

Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), charged that the

" list of George Gray's corporate sponsors reads like a murderer's row of

the top polluters in the country. " Ruch warned that Gray is likely to

expand the EPA's use of corporate research money.

 

On Wednesday, PEER released records obtained under the Freedom of

Information Act detailing an increasingly symbiotic relationship

between the

EPA and chemical companies. The organization's program director Rebecca

Rose said the agency is " becoming an arm of corporate research and

development. "

 

Since President George W. Bush took office, the EPA has nearly doubled

the number of research-and-development agreements with industry

associations and companies that it held during the previous

administration,

according to PEER. The American Chemical Council, the nation's largest

chemical industry lobby, is the agency's biggest partner, the group

noted.

 

Gray's nomination vote comes just days after PEER revealed that the

agency is embarking on a plan to outsource as many as 850 jobs.

 

 

 

 

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