An Industry Insider’s Changes at the E.P.A. Could Cost Taxpayers Billions

By Hiroko Tabuchi | The New York Times | August 28, 2025

Read the full article by Hiroko Tabuchi (The New York Times)

“Early this year, Steven Cook was a lawyer representing chemical companies suing to block a new rule that would force them to clean up pollution from ‘forever chemicals,’ which are linked to low birthrates and cancer.

Now Mr. Cook is in a senior role at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he has proposed scrapping the same rule his former clients were challenging in court. His effort could shift cleanup costs away from polluters and onto taxpayers, according to internal E.P.A. documents reviewed by The New York Times.

Last month Mr. Cook met with industry groups that are still challenging the rule in court. By the next business day after the meeting, the E.P.A. office that oversees toxic cleanups had reversed its internal recommendation on the rule, the documents show, to advise repealing instead of upholding it.” …

This content provided by the PFAS Project.