EPA Boss, a Former Koch Exec, Recused Same Day Toxic Koch Chemical Cleared Agency: Report

A former Koch Industries chemicals expert appointed by the Trump administration to run the Environmental Protection Agency’s research office participated in conversations about the safety of formaldehyde even though he said he would recuse himself due to his conflict of interest, Politico reports. Koch Industries is one of the country’s biggest producers of formaldehyde, a toxic substance widely used in wood composites, building materials, insulation, fabrics, and glue. According to the emails obtained by Politico, David Dunlap told colleagues he would stay out of of discussions related to formaldehyde, but participated in them at least twice before officially recusing himself. On the same day Dunlap signed his recusal, the EPA threw out an assessment that Politico said was set to find that “the levels of formaldehyde that most Americans breathe in daily puts them at risk for leukemia and other ailments.” Koch has lobbied for years to kill the assessment. “The timing of this doesn’t pass the sniff test,” said Scott Amey, general counsel at the independent Project on Government Oversight. “It really does appear he wanted to weigh in on the formaldehyde issue for as long as he could.”