Revolving Door: Chemical Lobbyist Slated for Senate Confirmation to EPA Chemical Safety Office

Chemical industry lobbyist Douglas Troutman is facing Senate confirmation to lead the EPA’s chemical safety office. Troutman worked for the American Cleaning Institute for 17 years and 10 months, according to his LinkedIn profile, and just left the company last month to become a Senior Advisor for the EPA. ACI member companies include Clorox, Dow, Procter and Gamble, and BASF, among others. ACI member companies account for approximately 90% of all cleaning products sold in the United States.

Environmental advocates have raised the alarm regarding the revolving door at the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. If the Senate confirms Troutman, he will be the third chemical industry insider to work in the chemical safety office of this Trump administration. Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator Nancy Beck is the former director of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which includes BASF, Bayer, Dow, and Exxon Mobil as members, among the other largest chemical manufacturers in the world.

Deputy Assistant Administrator Lynn Dekleva is a former executive for the ACC and DuPont. Steven Cook is serving as the principal deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) after working as an attorney for LyondellBasell, a chemical manufacturer, for more than two decades.

“I hope to bring a reasoned approach to engaging chemical management matters and issues under the belief that economic prosperity and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive,” Troutman said in a statement to the Senate committee on environment and public works.

“The lunatics are running the asylum, and industry is firmly in charge of chemical safety,” said Scott Faber, vice-president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group non-profit, which lobbies on chemical safety issues. “They will stop at nothing to reverse the progress that we’ve made in recent years on toxic chemicals.”

100 manufacturing industry groups signed a joint letter to President-elect Trump in December with 29 requests for deregulation of the industry. The letter refers to a “regulatory onslaught” that reached a “fever pitch” during the Biden administration. The New Lede analyzed the 29 claims and found that the current Trump administration has acted on 23 of them. The vast majority of these regulations were passed during the previous four years of the Biden administration.

In March, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the “biggest deregulation action in U.S. history” with 31 actions. At the time, Administrator Zeldin said “Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down the cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more.”

The Make America Health Again (MAHA) Commission released the MAHA report in May. The report discusses the revolving door between government and industry, specifically in the food, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. The report states, “The chemical-manufacturing industry spent roughly $77 million on federal lobbying activities in 2024, while 60% of their lobbyists previously held federal posts. In addition, more than ten thousand chemicals listed on the EPA’s inventory are designated as confidential, and generic chemical names are used to identify them.”

The MAHA report identifies problems with corporate influence over scientific research and the “possible health effects” of glyphosate, including “reproductive and developmental disorders as well as cancers, liver inflammation and metabolic disturbances.” The report drew the ire the American Farm Bureau Federation, and President Zippy Duvall issued a statement saying, “It is deeply troubling for the White House to endorse a report that sows seeds of doubt and fear about our food system and farming practices, then attempts to celebrate farmers and the critical role they play in producing the safest food supply in the world.”

The ACC issued a statement in September supporting MAHA strategy and looks forward to working with the administration on the strategy. The statement says, “Chemistry plays a central role in advancing public health. Keeping all Americans healthy – especially children – is something our industry supports. At the heart of every breakthrough in public health is chemistry, and America’s chemical manufacturers are ready to continue working with policymakers at all levels of government, researchers, and communities to develop solutions that are both protective and practical. Together, we can build a healthier, more resilient America—without compromising the technologies and materials that make modern life possible.”

Faber said Troutman, as an industry lobbyist, sought to repeal the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act in California, which is a transparency law requiring chemical companies to disclose product ingredients. In 2023, the federal Congress considered a bill that would have preempted California’s state law. Faber is concerned about the federal government pre-empting state laws, but said it is still important for states to enact their own laws regulating the chemical industry.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in January that she supports a proposal that would require California to sell meat and eggs that don’t abide by the minimum size and design standards for crates of breeding pigs as outlined in Proposition 12, which was democratically approved by California voters. Faber said state laws are more vital to protecting the people and environment from toxic substances as the EPA looks to further deregulate, with industry insiders at the helm.

Bayer has been lobbying for immunity at the federal and state level that would protect the company from liability suits if individuals are harmed by the use of Roundup, and the primary ingredient, glyphosate.

Chemical disasters, leaks, and spills are prominent in the U.S., including several large occurrences in the last few years, such as East Palestine, Conyers, Moss Landing, and Roseland, Louisiana. While not all occurrences are as impactful as these events, chemical or oil contamination events occur every 1.2 days in the U.S., and these communities have said they are not being adequately helped in the aftermath of toxic chemical exposure.

The inclusion of chemical industry-insiders in the chemical division of the EPA is a contradiction to the concerns raised by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the MAHA report that highlights the problems of corporate-capture within the federal government regulatory agencies. Administrator Zeldin is a member of the MAHA Commission formed by President Trump’s executive order.

While Administrator Zeldin is a member of the MAHA Commission, the continued reliance on industry insiders to regulate the companies they used to work for.