EPA head travels to Costa Rica in remaining days of Trump administration

Environmental Safety Company (EPA) Administrator Andrew WheelerAndrew WheelerOVERNIGHT Strength: Court docket principles from rapid-observe of Trump EPA’s ‘secret science’ rule | Bureau of Land Administration exodus: Company misplaced 87 % of staff members in Trump HQ relocation | GM commits to electrical light duty fleet by 2035 Courtroom policies against rapidly-track of Trump EPA’s ‘secret science’ rule Biden ‘freeze’ of Trump policies could halt environmental rollbacks Extra will spend some of his closing times in place of work in Costa Rica.

The journey will come soon after the EPA canceled Wheeler’s scheduled vacation to Taiwan in November amid pushback about the cost of a $250,000 chartered flight amid the coronavirus. 

Wheeler is heading south to explore maritime litter, a pet issue for the administrator, as well as agriculture difficulties.

But the EPA would not disclose the cost of the vacation and did not react to queries about the require for travel in the waning times of the administration.

“Administrator Wheeler will communicate at a roundtable hosted by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), with associates from the non-public sector in Costa Rica on methods to operate alongside one another to guard the international food stuff source. The Administrator will also hold meetings with the Vice Minister for Ecosystem and Vice Minister for H2o and Oceans at the Ministry of Natural environment and Electricity,” EPA spokesman James Hewitt advised The Hill on Thursday, adding that the conversations would emphasis on maritime litter. “The mission will also include internet site visits and meetings with non-public sector and non-governmental companies to discover far more about their steps advertising environmental defense in Costa Rica.”

Particulars of Wheeler’s Taiwan trip have been initial reported by The New York Instances in November, obtaining that the 3-working day vacation prepared for December would value $45,000 for a delegation of 10.

The outlet also reported the agency was weighing trips for Wheeler to several other countries in Latin America, like Panama, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.

The EPA did not react to queries about Wheeler’s vacation arrangements or extra journey options.