The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, facing ongoing criticism about his taxpayer-funded, first-class travels, says he plans to spend more time in coach.
“There’s a change coming,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told CBS News in a podcast set to air today.
Pruitt has faced a public backlash and inquiries from Congress in recent weeks, after The Washington Post detailed dozens of first-class flights Pruitt had taken through last summer, as well as his penchant for staying at luxury hotels.
In the CBS interview, Pruitt stopped short of saying he plans to fly in coach on all future trips, and he reiterated that his personal security detail recommended last year that he begin flying first class because of the number of threats he has faced.
“Look, there have been incidents on planes. There have been incidents in airports, and those incidents, you know, occurred, and they are of different types,” Pruitt said. “These threats have been unprecedented from the very beginning, and the quantity and type are unprecedented.”
Pruitt said he had a “responsibility” to listen to the advice of agency security officials, including one who wrote a memo to superiors last May after an incident in which a fellow traveler allegedly approached the EPA leader using “vulgar” and “threatening” language. The memo argued that Pruitt should be allowed to fly first or business class to provide “a buffer” between him and the public.
“Now, what I’ve done going forward is I’ve instructed those same individuals to accommodate those security threats in alternate ways — up to and including flying coach going forward,” Pruitt told CBS. “There is a change occurring. You’re going to accommodate the security threats as they exist, you’re going to accommodate those in all ways, alternate ways, up to and including flying coach, and that’s going to happen on my very next flight.”
One option agency officials have explored is seating Pruitt in the bulkhead row, which has more legroom than a traditional coach seat and also would allow him to be among the first passengers to disembark.
The EPA has refused to release the written “waiver” that allows Pruitt to fly regularly in first or business class, based on security concerns.