Ed Markey: “I rise in opposition to the nomination of Peter Wright for the position of Assistant Administrator of the Office of Land…”

“I rise in opposition to the nomination of Peter Wright for the position of Assistant Administrator of the Office of Land and Emergency Management at the Environmental Protection Agency. If confirmed to this position, Mr. Wright would be in charge of the office that cleans up hazardous waste, contaminated lands, oilspills, and environmental disasters. He would be at the helm of the Nation's Superfund Program, which is critical to keeping our communities and families safe from dangerous chemicals and other toxic substances. As a former counsel for Dow Chemical Company, Peter Wright's resume looks eerily similar to the listing of parties responsible for contaminated Superfund sites across our country. For 19 years at Dow, he was known as the company's dioxin lawyer. He headed negotiations for a massive cleanup of this cancerous chemical at a time when the company was accused of delaying cleanup efforts and misrepresenting scientific evidence. For the past year, Peter Wright worked in an unconfirmed capacity as ``special counsel to the EPA Administrator.'' Despite promising to divest all his equity interests in DowDupont, it was recently revealed that he held on to those stocks until just 4 months ago. Continuing to profit off of a chemical company while working for the primary Federal Agency responsible for regulating that company is unacceptable behavior.…”