Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has canceled his latest trip to Israel which was to last for about a week, agency officials said on Sunday.
Pruitt was scheduled to travel to the Middle East for a tour to Israel but decided to postpone the trip after receiving strong criticism due to the cost of his domestic and international travel, The Washington Post reports.
“We decided to postpone; the administrator looks forward to going in the future,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said in an email Sunday without providing a reason for the postponement.
If Pruitt hadn’t canceled the trip he would have stayed in Jerusalem until Thursday and would have been accompanied on his trip by support staff from the U.S. Embassy, a standard protocol for any visiting cabinet members.
The EPA administrator was to meet in Israel with Environment Minister Ze’ev Elkin, but he canceled the meeting, the office of the Israeli minister confirmed. Neither the U.S. embassy in Israel nor the Israeli Foreign Ministry would comment on Pruitt’s change in plans.
Last week, an EPA official said the administrator intended to meet with government officials as well as private-sector representatives and added that he was to visit several sites in Israel “to gain an understanding of Israel’s unique infrastructure and environmental challenges.”
Some of the sites Pruitt was to visit included a water recycling plant and a toxic land remediation site. He was also supposed to meet with officials from Israeli water technology companies. According to the official, Pruitt also planned to travel to the port of Haifa to see sustainability efforts there.
During a trip to New Hampshire last week, Pruitt defended himself against criticism regarding his expensive flights, saying he was not the one who made the decision.
“I’m not involved in any of those decisions,” he noted. “Those are all made by the [security] detail, the security assessment, in addition to the chief of staff.”
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