Most of those who spoke to Bloomberg Environment during several weeks of reporting for this story agreed that the White House engagement in the process in this case is atypical.
“This does seem unusual,” said Tom McGarity, an administrative law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “My experience is that they’re usually in listening mode.”
And Stuart Shapiro, a former OIRA desk officer and assistant branch chief in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, estimated that in at least 95% of the meetings he attended: “We just sat there and listened, maybe asked a question or two to be polite.”
