{"id":1620857,"date":"2022-08-23T21:42:23","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T01:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1620857"},"modified":"2022-08-23T21:42:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T01:42:45","slug":"exclusive-top-biden-epa-nominee-may-have-violated-key-ethics-pledge-watchdogs-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-top-biden-epa-nominee-may-have-violated-key-ethics-pledge-watchdogs-say\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Top Biden EPA Nominee May Have \u2018Violated\u2019 Key Ethics Pledge, Watchdogs Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-top-biden-epa-nominee-may-have-violated-key-ethics-pledge-watchdogs-say%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1620857&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><ul>\n<li><b>Joseph Goffman, a top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official, could have violated a key federal ethics pledge after using his government role to grant favors to former university colleagues, watchdogs say.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>Goffman corresponded with former colleagues at Harvard University using his government email, according to federal records, potentially violating his ethics pledge.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cConsidering his several years of experience in the executive branch and his legal background, he clearly should know the rules,\u201d said Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public\u2019s Trust. \u201cDespite these facts, he appears to have exhibited a very lax attitude toward his ethics obligations.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominee may have violated a key federal ethics pledge after using his current agency role to grant favors to former university colleagues, watchdogs told the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Goffman, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/climate-environment\/2022\/03\/08\/biden-taps-head-environmental-protection-agencys-air-office-eyeing-climate-rules\/\">was<\/a> tapped by President Joe Biden to lead the EPA\u2019s Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), replied in 2021 to two former colleagues of his at Harvard University who were asking for favors, according to emails obtained by the watchdog Protect the Public\u2019s Trust that were shared with the DCNF. Because Goffman currently serves as OAR\u2019s acting head, his actions may have violated a federal ethics pledge, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/presidential-actions\/2021\/01\/20\/executive-order-ethics-commitments-by-executive-branch-personnel\/\">bars<\/a> political appointees from participating in matters \u201cdirectly and substantially related\u201d with their former employers for two years, watchdogs say.<\/p>\n<p>In March 2021, Harvard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/joseph-aldy\">professor<\/a> Joseph Aldy emailed Goffman asking for him to help his student with research on the EPA\u2019s involvement in artificial intelligence rule making. Goffman, who used to <a href=\"https:\/\/hls.harvard.edu\/today\/joseph-goffman-joins-environmental-law-program-new-executive-director\/\">lead<\/a> Harvard Law School\u2019s Environmental Law Program, responded and copied two EPA economists on the email thread.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThanks Joe! Shruti. let me suggest you follow up with Al and Alex on this,\u201d Aldy responded to Goffman. \u201cAl and Alex, thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer. And I\u2019d be happy to discuss further if you\u2019d like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Goffman should have known better than to respond to the email, according to Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public\u2019s Trust. <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/07\/26\/exclusive-conservative-and-pro-energy-activists-urge-senators-to-reject-top-biden-epa-nominee\/\"><strong>(EXCLUSIVE: Conservative And Pro-Energy Activists Urge Senators To Reject Top Biden EPA Nominee)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsidering his several years of experience in the executive branch and his legal background, he clearly should know the rules,\u201d Chamberlain told the DCNF. \u201cDespite these facts, he appears to have exhibited a very lax attitude toward his ethics obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Goffman should have \u201cimmediately\u201d removed himself from any conversations \u201cinvolving his former employer,\u201d said Chamberlain, noting he \u201cpotentially violated ethics rules by personally responding\u201d to the favor request from the Harvard professor.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7507647\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7507647\" class=\"wp-image-7507647 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GettyImages-654199026-scaled-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GettyImages-654199026-scaled-1.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GettyImages-654199026-180x120.jpeg 180w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GettyImages-654199026-620x412-1.jpeg 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GettyImages-654199026-768x511-1.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GettyImages-654199026-1536x1021-1.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/GettyImages-654199026-2048x1361-1.jpeg 2048w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7507647\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo by Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In February 2021, another former Harvard colleague reached out to Goffman via email.<\/p>\n<p>Kathy Fallon Lambert, <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/profile\/kathy-fallon-lambert\/\">an<\/a> adviser at the Center for Climate, Health and Global Environment at Harvard\u2019s public health school, shared with Goffman a letter she submitted to the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee in connection to a congressional hearing. The February hearing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/event\/117th-congress\/house-event\/111210?s=1&amp;r=89\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">was<\/a> called \u201cA Smarter Investment: Pathways to a Clean Energy Future,\u201d and Lambert\u2019s letter was on lowering carbon emissions.<\/p>\n<p>Lambert told Goffman she \u201cwould be happy to answer any questions\u201d on the letter and \u201cbrief EPA officials on this work,\u201d emails show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHi, Kathy,\u201d Goffman replied to Lambert just hours later. \u201cThanks so much for looping me in on this; it\u2019s great that you sent this letter to House Energy leadership. I will inquire with colleagues here as to whether they would benefit from a briefing. Great work, in any event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear if Goffman and his colleagues were briefed by Lambert. Goffman did not respond to the DCNF\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The newly unearthed emails will certainly \u201cmake ethics officials across the government cringe,\u201d according to another watchdog that spoke with the DCNF.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s well understood that senior federal officials should serve the public, not their former employers,\u201d Pete McGinnis, spokesman for the Functional Government Initiative, told the DCNF. \u201cWhen emails like this surface, it only deepens the public\u2019s concern that special interests are getting privileged access.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe appearance alone is problematic, not to mention the frequency of the communications with what should be a \u2018no communication\u2019 email recipient,\u201d McGinnis added.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for the EPA told the DCNF Goffman has \u201ccommitted to uphold his ethical obligations\u201d as the head of the OAR.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has and will continue to appropriately follow through with the necessary steps to comply with that commitment, in coordination with the Agency\u2019s ethics officials,\u201d said the spokesman.<\/p>\n<p>Protect the Public\u2019s Trust filed an <a href=\"https:\/\/protectpublicstrust.org\/press-releases\/acting-head-of-epa-office-admits-to-ethics-violation\/\">ethics<\/a> complaint in August 2021 after obtaining emails showing Lambert tried to arrange a meeting in April with Goffman on \u201cmercury science.\u201d Goffman subsequently told a subordinate EPA official: \u201cPlease provide the usual response, but I think we should do this one,\u201d emails show.<\/p>\n<p>Goffman then emailed an ethics official to \u201cadvise on how to cure\u201d his Biden ethics pledge violation. The ethics official told Goffman he \u201cshould have been more alert,\u201d further noting that Goffman failed to recuse himself as prescribed by the pledge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow we have to unring the bell, which we will do without your knowledge or involvement,\u201d the official told Goffman in April 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate is expected to vote on Goffman\u2019s nomination in the coming weeks, though no firm date has been set. In July, <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/07\/26\/exclusive-conservative-and-pro-energy-activists-urge-senators-to-reject-top-biden-epa-nominee\/\">nearly two dozen<\/a> conservative and pro-energy activists demanded senators reject Goffman\u2019s nomination, claiming he will aid Biden in his \u201cclimate and anti-energy agenda,\u201d the DCNF reported.<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joseph Goffman, a top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official, could have violated a key federal ethics pledge after using his government role to grant favors to former university colleagues, watchdogs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1620857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1620857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1620857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1620857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1620857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}