WASHINGTON – North Carolina’s two Republican senators, Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, will not support President Trump’s nomination of Michael Dourson to oversee chemical safety at the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a report in the Wilmington Star News.
“I will not be supporting the nomination of Michael Dourson,” Burr said in a statement. “With his record and our state’s history of contamination at Camp Lejeune as well as the current GenX water issues in Wilmington, I am not confident he is the best choice for our country.”
“Over the last several weeks, Senator Tillis has done his due diligence in reviewing Mr. Dourson’s body of work,” the senator’s office told the Star News. “Senator Tillis still has serious concerns about his record and cannot support his nomination.”
Here is a statement from EWG Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Scott Faber:
Senators Burr and Tillis are right: Michael Dourson is the wrong man for the job. No one who has spent decades arguing on behalf of the chemical industry for weaker safety standards should be charged with reviewing chemicals for the EPA. It would be like putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department.
Whether it’s 1,4-dioxane, PFCs or TCE, Dourson has consistently argued for safety standards that are 10, 100 or even 1,000 times weaker than the standards proposed by public health officials. Many of these chemicals have been linked to cancer or reproductive problems.
We applaud Sens. Burr and Tillis for making public health their top priority.
