WASHINGTON – Environmental Protection Agency chief Rewandrew Wheeler plans to embark on two taxpayer-funded trips abroad – Taiwan next month and four Latin American countries in January – President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. sets out to overturn most of his policies before taking office.
Both trips have raised concerns about taxpayer costs at a time when Mr. Wheeler is no longer presenting the direction of EPA policy, and he and top aides are expected to help transition to the Biden administration.
To avoid the dangers of coronavirus, a commercial flight costs more than 250 250,000, and business travelers have long quarantines, say three people familiar with travel in Taiwan. E.P.A. And according to documents from the American Institute Taiwan as well as those familiar with the plan, the three-day visit, scheduled for the week of Dec 5, will cost about 45 45,000 for a 10-member delegation. Being anonymous they were not authorized to discuss preparations.
Mr Wheeler’s spokesman James Hewitt said the agency was still working through logistics but said the administrator had been invited to Taiwan to “co-operate on issues including the Save Our Seas initiative and marine waste, air quality and children’s health.” Mr. Wheeler called plastic waste a “top priority” and the EPA recently unveiled a global strategy to address marine waste.
Mr Hewitt did not accept the incoming Biden administration or transition, adding, “The administrator remains as head of the Wheeler Agency and will continue to promote environmental progress here and abroad.”
EPA officials noted that Gina McCarthy, who led the EPA under the Obama administration, also went to Taiwan and the total cost was more than $ 68,000. The trip came in 2014, two years before Mr. Trump was elected, and did not include a charter flight.
In addition to Mr. Wheeler, the Taiwanese delegation is expected to include its chief of staff, Mandy Ganasekara, and its deputy chief of staff, Michael Molina.
Two people familiar with the trip said meetings with top officials in Taiwan were not planned in advance because such trips are typical, and were instead linked to each other in a hurry. The same people said that no policy goals or events came up for the Latin America tour, just visiting the countries he likes.
Aides said they have been instructed on plans for Mr Wheeler’s trip to Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic – but to make plans for other countries in the region if those four are not possible.
No international environmental conferences or events were held in those countries in January.
“Nothing has been confirmed yet,” Mr Hewitt said in a statement on the Latin American tour.
Mr. Wheeler is not the only high-ranking official in the Trump administration preparing for a lewd-duck trip. Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad F. Wolfe is scheduled to travel to Latin America in December. Work is still being done on the date and countries but it could include El Salvador, Panama, Brazil and Ecuador. That trip was previously reported by the Washington Post.
Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, D.C., said the liberal-minded watchdog group said Mr. Wheeler’s travels were legal as long as there was no official purpose. But, he said, “as a matter of morality it seems deeply problematic” especially since coronavirus infections are at record levels in the United States and remain low in South America.
“Epidemics add to the cost and hassle of almost everything but certainly to any kind of official travel. While that travel is necessary for government business, people understand that whatever resources they take are necessary and will probably not demand extra costs,” Mr. Bookbinder said.
But, he added, “it’s hard to imagine a situation where there is no situation where a cabinet official’s time is spent more on international travel here than on a systematic transition and Washington Washington.”
The rapid incidence of coronavirus epidemics in Taiwan has been widely praised, but there have been concerns about an increase in cases of travelers entering the country in recent weeks. It is tested for coronavirus before allowing foreigners traveling to Taiwan to enter, and people familiar with Mr. Wheeler’s trip said a chartered flight is necessary to avoid a long and expensive quarantine.
U.S. Alex Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, visited Taiwan this summer, also flying a charter flight.
Zolan Kanno-Young contributed to the reporting.
