HIROKO TABUCHI

New York Times

Early this year, Steven Cook was a lawyer representing chemical companies suing to block a new rule that would force them to clean up pollution from "forever chemicals," which are linked to low birthrates and cancer.

Now Cook is in a senior role at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he has proposed scrapping the same rule his former clients were challenging in court. His effort could shift cleanup costs onto taxpayers, according to internal EPA documents reviewed by The New York Times.

Last month Cook met with industry groups that are still challenging the rule in court. By the next business day after the meeting, the EPA office that oversees toxic cleanups had reversed its internal recommendation on the rule, the documents show, to advise repealin

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