A few days ago we mentioned a housing project for the poor in East Chicago, Indiana that was built on the site of a smelter that contaminated the ground with lead, arsenic and other toxic chemicals; yesterday the new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency visited the area “to talk to residents.” He held a news conference that lasted two minutes, took no questions and refused to meet with the residents. The city has finally decided the complex must be bulldozed and residents relocated, but it has noplace to send them except the high-crime south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Pruitt is an opponent of his own agency’s mission, and the result was a donnybrook. (Scott Olson/Getty)
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