The White House is looking into why reporters were barred and forcibly removed from an Environmental Protection Agency summit on dangerous chemicals Tuesday.
“Certainly, we’ll look into the matter,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said at the daily press briefing Tuesday afternoon.
She had no comment on whether the White House would contact EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt about the incident, saying only that the agency has released a statement on the matter and that she would be referring all inquiries to the EPA “as we look into the incident.”
After the incident, in which an Associated Press reporter was forcibly removed from attempting to enter EPA headquarters, the agency said it would allow all reporters to attend during the afternoon session.
CNN, E&E News, and the AP were barred from the meeting, while 10 news outlets were allowed to cover the first hour of the morning session.
EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox first said the banned news outlets could not attend the day-and-a-half long meeting because of a lack of space.
“This was simply an issue of the room reaching capacity, which reporters were aware of prior to the event,” Wilcox said in a statement. “We were able to accommodate 10 reporters, provided a livestream for those we could not accommodate and were unaware of the individual situation that has been reported.”
Wilcox later sent out a new statement saying all media, including the previously barred outlets, could attend the afternoon session, from 1 p.m. until 5:30 p.m.
The AP reporter, Ellen Knickmeyer, said an adviser to Pruitt later called to apologize for the incident and that officials were looking into it. He also invited her to attend the afternoon session.
“We are pleased that the EPA has reconsidered its decision and will now allow AP to attend the remainder of today’s meeting,” AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said. “The AP looks forward to informing the public of the important discussions at the water contaminants summit.”
The summit, attended by state, local, tribal, industry, and nonprofit officials, is focused on the challenge of removing toxic chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAs, from water supplies.
The chemicals have been linked with thyroid defects, problems in pregnancy, and certain cancers. They are found in Teflon nonstick pans, food packaging, firefighting foam and other products.
