According to emails obtained by the great people at Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), reporters from The New York Times and Politico worked alongside the Biden-Harris administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to try and concoct a record of climate leadership for then-Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed campaign. And, when it was all over, one fretted to their fellow liberals about the agency’s future under President Trump. On the latter example, reporter Kevin Bogardus — who works for Politico’s E&E News — fretted on January 6 that he was “reaching out to former EPA officials who served in Democratic and Republican administrations to hear what they think about what the agency accomplished during these past four years as well as what is under threat or will last during the incoming administration and beyond.” “Under threat”? The horror! Of course a D.C. journalist would frame the change of administrations that way. His questions even implied impending doom, wondering how much EPA had yet to spend from the bipartisan infrastructure act. Specifically, he expressed concern that about the EPA’s “Clean School Bus Program,” which “was appropriated $5 billion[.]” Bogardus did the same with the boondoogle known as the Inflation Reduction Act and EPA employees overall (given what Americans already knew would be mass layoffs). Going back to the campaign, Politico’s Zack Colman sought help in a July 25, 2024 e-mail to the EPA in confirming whether it’s “accurate to say VP Harris was instrumental in formulating the idea to send $20B in climate funding under the Inflation Reduction Act to community lenders.” An EPA officially replied to Colman and Bogardus with a comical word salad with political buzzwords looking to make fetch happen, alleging Harris was instrumental in what was called the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) as part of the Inflation Reduction Act: Vice President Kamala Harris is a leader who doesn’t do surface, she digs in and she was a driving force behind EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program from the Inflation Reduction Act. The Vice President was actively engaged during the development of the program and emphasized the importance of community lenders in the work to reach underserved communities. Her engagement resulted in a program that will help ensure that families, small businesses, and community lenders, especially in disadvantaged and underserved areas, have access to billions of dollars of new capital they need to make climate and clean energy projects a reality in their neighborhoods. Now, just how absurd is this GGRF? Check out this definition from a far-left group called Evergreen Action: [T]he Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) is the largest grant program within the IRA. Not only does this provide a massive investment in pollution-reducing, clean energy technology, but it targets communities that have been historically overlooked and underserved and brings equity to the clean energy transition. And the program’s flexibility puts decision-making into states and communities’ hands—allowing local leadership to design and implement programing for maximum impact. This financing will have both immediate and long-lasting impact, by deploying clean energy projects in communities now, and supporting the creation of green banks that can finance clean energy projects well into the future.  With buzzwords like “equity,” “flexibility,”  “green banks,” and “undeserved,” theat sure seems like a slush fund to us! He was back for more on August 19, 2024 asking about Regan’s future if Harris were to win (or lose) the election. When there didn’t appear to be a response, he added another question hours later: “How would you characterize Administrator Regan’s working relationship with Vice President Harris? Have they worked closely together during the Biden-Harris administration? If so, on what issues?” They apparently called him the next day, leading Bogardus to give his fellow liberals a preview of how their comments to him would be characterized prior to publication (click “expand,” italics original to the e-mail): Many thanks for the phone call just now, Nick. I really appreciate it. As we discussed, regarding my questions about Administrator Regan’s future plans, you directed me to prior comments from Administrator Regan, including whether he is interested in being part of a potential Harris administration. I will use that in the following in italics in my story: EPA spokesperson Nick Conger directed E&E News to prior comments Administrator Michael Regan made about his future plans, including whether he was interested in being part of a potential Harris administration. “I’ve learned not to get out ahead of any conversations I’ve had with the president and the vice president,” Regan said at an event last month. Also, as we discussed as well, please pass on that on-the-record statement regarding Vice President Harris and Administrator Regan’s working relationship as soon as you can. Thanks so much again for your help and talk to you later! It must be nice to have the power to see how the elite press will characterize you beforehand. Rewind a week to August 12, 2024 and Times White House reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs emailed this to an EPA official asking for help in finding examples of how Harris “shaped” the administration’s climate agenda through “big decisions”: Hope you’re well. I was referred to you by the vice president’s office for a story we’re doing on Vice President Kamala Harris’s time as vice president. We’re curious about exploring what the VP did and did not do on policy. What were the big decisions she made? How did she help shape some of the policies in Biden’s agenda? I thought the Administrator would be able to provide his perspective? The thing we’re looking for here is examples of the VP’s work, rather than just analysis. Of course, EPA press aide Timothy Carroll replied just over half an hour later: “Administrator Regan would be happy to chat on this and I think he can speak to a few examples, especially on the VP’s engagement in the development of EPA’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.” A search of Kamala Harris and Michael Regan in The Times’s database showed quite the sad trombone as such a story never materialized under his byline.