Toyota courts EPA boss

The leader of the United States’ environmental regulator was tempted to take a controversial ride in two Toyota vehicles.

According to released emails provided to environmental organisation Sierra Club, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt was offered and interested in a test drive of the Lexus LC500 sports car to visit the company’s hydrogen refuelling facility in Washington DC.

ABC News reports the arrangement which fell through due to scheduling issues offered a “a lunchtime drive” for Pruitt to also sample the Mirai fuel cell vehicle at the DC hydrogen station.

Finalising emails for the arrangement reveal the EPA and Toyota personnel agreed “We will not post or tweet anything.”
However, Pruitt’s office indicates the offer is on raincheck.

“Can we postpone to a later date?” Pruitt’s aide says in an email. “…We hope to do this very soon.”

Environmental groups have questioned the conflict of interest between the EPA aligning itself with carmakers, particularly after Toyota indicated it spent US$30,000 lobbying the EPA against the fuel economy and emissions standards which Pruitt controversially repealed in April.

Toyota executive vice president Christopher Reynolds told the Environmental Working Group it stands by the decision to offer the ride.

“The goal of the subsidiary — the Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC) — is to contribute to society by teaching organizations and groups external to Toyota how to apply this efficiency system to their operations,” Reynolds says.

A Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) spokesperson told ABC News that Pruitt taking a test drive of the Lexus could violate policy if not “immediately declined”.

“It looks like ethics concerns were not what stopped this from happening,” the CREW member states.
“It raises questions about his impartiality”.

In 2017, vehicles overtook power plants as the nation’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide.