Washington (CNN)Journalists weren’t the only ones shut out from the Environmental Protection Agency’s conference this week on chemically contaminated drinking water.
The EPA’s PFAS National Leadership Summit landed in the spotlight because the Trump administration has withheld a Department of Health and Human Services report on the chemicals’ health risks, and because the agency blocked some reporters, including from CNN, from covering a speech by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
After an Associated Press reporter was physically shoved out of the building, the EPA allowed reporters to attend about four hours of the two-day conference.
Multiple attendees, including several from environmental groups that have questioned Pruitt’s actions at the EPA, described the meeting to CNN as primarily attended by state and federal regulators.
The EPA is preparing a national plan to deal with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are used in manufacturing and many household products.
The two representatives of local groups who did attend were notified of their invitations just days before the conference.
Andrea Amico said requests from her New Hampshire group, Testing for Pease, were initially turned down, until the top EPA official in New England appealed directly to Pruitt.
The presentation from the American Chemistry Council at the meeting "kind of came across as an infomercial for the great new ways they are using these chemicals," he said.
He has met twice with the American Chemistry Council, including once earlier this month, and spoke at a council event in South Carolina last November, according to his calendar.
An official from the HHS office that prepared that report, Patrick Breysse, told conference attendees on Tuesday the report would be released soon, once a communications plan could be completed.