Article snippet: Succeeding at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) meant keeping your head down, your opinions to yourself and never saying no to the boss, according to three former staffers who worked under Administrator MORE. They described working conditions under Pruitt, who announced his resignation Thursday, as equally tense and thankless and blamed the EPA chief for creating a culture of fear that often pitted employees against one another and left some workers — many under the age of 30 — feeling as if they couldn’t say no to the administrator. “You get the sense that anyone who would push back on him, he didn’t want around. So the message has been sent loud and clear that the only way you can succeed in that office is if you do exactly what he wants,” one former aide, speaking before Pruitt’s resignation, told The Hill. The controversies ultimately led to his resignation. MORE, commenting to reporters aboard Air Force One, said Pruitt did not want to be a distraction. Pruitt was facing 13 federal investigations into his various expenses and management practices at the EPA, including his rental of a $50-per-night Capitol Hill condo from the wife of an energy lobbyist and his use of first-class travel during his first year on the job. Last week, a top EPA ethics official urged the agency’s Inspector General to investigate new allegations against Pruitt that include reports that he asked employees to help him with his housing search and find a job for his wife, The N... Link to the full article to read more