84,805—the size of the raises that Pruitt gave to two of his Oklahoma cronies who followed him to DC. To get raises of this size, Pruitt had to appeal to the White House. When the White House turned him down, Pruitt ordered his team to use money that was supposed to go to outside consultants to pad the paychecks of his friends. In a Fox News interview, Pruitt denied knowing who had approved those raises. But Pruitt approved those raises.
5—the number of high-ranking EPA officials who say that Pruitt had them relocated, demoted or removed when they tried to warn him that he was breaking the rules with his frivolous spending, first class flights, paranoid actions and violations of personnel rules. That doesn’t include the former security chief who was pushed out after he refused to use emergency sirens so Pruitt could get through traffic.
23,900—how much Pruitt underpaid for the use of townhouse owned by a fossil fuels lobbyist. The Sierra Club searched similar townhouses in the same neighborhood and found they averaged $5,000 a month, which is also what some legislators reported as the previous cost of the actual building where Pruitt lived. But Pruitt paid only $6,100 for the run of the building over six months. Pruitt tried to make the $50 a night price seem reasonable by saying he was just renting a room, but unless he also kept his visiting guests and his GOP fundraisers in that single room … that’s not true.
1—the number of people now able to sign off on regulation under the Clean Water Act, after Pruitt took away the power of local supervisors and regional managers and gave it all to himself. With a classified memo, Pruitt has turned himself in America’s Water Czar, giving himself the sole authority to approve mines, oil drilling, fracking, housing—anything.
70,000—the cost of replacing two normal desks in Pruitt’s office with bulletproof desks. Even though Pruitt has a security staff of at least 30, costing $2 million a year. And even though he’s installed a second security system inside the EPA’s security system. And even though he’s cut off an entire floor of the building where anyone entering has to be escorted by a member of his private army, he demanded a bulletproof desk … but at least this is one thing he didn’t get.
3—Republican representatives who have called for Pruitt’s resignation. Two Florida GOP representatives, one of whom invited Pruitt to come down for himself and see the rising sea levels, called on Pruitt to leave earlier in the week. They were joined on Thursday by a representative from New York. On the Democratic side, the demand that Pruitt go is nearly universal.
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177,000,000—the size of the fine agreed on by Enbridge International under the Obama administration after their Michigan pipeline burst, spilling 20,000 barrels of oil into the Kalamazoo River. Enbridge was a client of the lobbyist who gave Scott Pruitt such a sweet deal on his townhouse. While he was staying at the townhouse, Pruitt approved an extension of that same pipeline, overriding concerns of EPA staff.
10—minimum number of GOP fundraisers that were held in Scott Pruitt’s $50-a-night home while he was staying at the lobbyist’s townhouse. That included regular luncheons with Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, a breakfast fundraiser for Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga, and at least three different PACs who turned up to clink glasses and laugh in Pruitt’s budget digs.
2,460—how much the EPA paid to replace a door that was smashed in when Pruitt’s security force became convinced that he was under attack, or had been drugged, or was having a heart attack, or something that required them to call 9-1-1 and smash through the door of the townhouse. Pruitt was “taking a nap” and apparently didn’t notice either his team or the police pounding on the door.
120,000—the cost of sending Pruitt and his security crew on a trip to Italy. That includes $36,000 on a military jet that was used just to get Pruitt to JFK in time to catch his first class flight. While there, Pruitt got a private tour of the Vatican. Whether he took that tour inside a bulletproof Pruitt-mobile isn’t known.