"Use of a special hiring authority held by the EPA administrator grew during Scott Pruitt's tenure at the agency.
EPA's internal watchdog released a report this morning that found President Trump's first EPA chief made the most appointments to "administratively determined" positions under the Safe Drinking Water Act compared with his recent predecessors.
Pruitt made 54 appointments using that authority, EPA's Office of Inspector General said in its report. He was followed by Lisa Jackson, who served as President Obama's first EPA administrator, with 36 AD hires. Gina McCarthy, who led the agency during Obama's second term, had 23 such appointments.
The scope of the IG's audit ended August 2018, so it captured only the beginning of Andrew Wheeler's tenure. Wheeler, who took charge of EPA in July 2018 after Pruitt resigned in the wake of various ethics scandals, had made two AD appointments, according to the review."
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