The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unleashed an attack on the Associated Press for what it said was a misleading story on its failure to monitor toxic dump sites in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The EPA did not reference an inaccuracies in the story but objected that the story omitted mention of EPA efforts to put a team into Houston to work with local and state officials to watch the Superfund sites. (Politico, September 3, 2017, by Matthew Nussbaum)
The AP story alleged that EPA personnel were nowhere near the Superfund sites, some of the most contaminated locations in the U.S. The EPA argued that it worked before the hurricane hit to secure the sites. (Business Insider, September 3, 2017, by Maxwell Tani)
AP defended its story denying that the reporters had written it in “the comforts of Washington” and arguing that the reporters used their knowledge of the sites and EPA practices in writing the story. (The Hill, September 3, 2017, by Olivia Beavers)