Children’s Health Chief Put on Leave, Says EPA Seeks to ‘Cause Chaos’

The EPA’s children health official who was placed on administrative leave Sept. 25 told colleagues that her removal wasn’t for disciplinary reasons, according to a personal email from Ruth Etzel obtained by Bloomberg Environment.

“It looks to me like it is intended to cause chaos in the Office of Children’s Health Protection,” Etzel, who had been that agency’s director, said in the email.

Etzel, a pediatrician, joined the agency in 2015. Her office, which is part of the administrator’s office, works to ensure EPA’s actions and programs address children’s vulnerabilities.

She said in the email she was ...