An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee based out of Las Vegas paid for nearly $15,000 worth of one-year gym memberships for 37 people using a government credit card, documents show.
The employee, EPA contracting officer Kevin Broadnax, bought 37 employees one-year memberships to the gym 24-Hour Fitness—totaling $14,799.63—with a government credit card, according to a receipt obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Americans for Tax Reform.
The documents show that Broadmax purchased the “super sport” memberships, which cost $399.99 each.
The employees work at the U.S. Environmental Science Division, which is home to the EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory and a library located on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) campus, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
EPA scientists, postdoctorate researchers, and contractors use the library for research.
The 24 Hour Fitness facilities boast “thousands of square feet of spectacular workout space, complete with premium gym equipment [and] unmatched amenities,” according to the gym’s website. Some of those amenities include a sauna, steam room, towel service, a jetted whirlpool Jacuzzi, and volleyball and basketball courts.
The gym brands itself as “the ultimate daily retreat.”
The EPA employees, however, already have access to an award-winning gym at UNLV which has volleyball, basketball, racquetball, a spacious cardio center, a 200-meter indoor track, a spa, a juice bar, and a pool.
“Those apologists who pretend that reducing waste and corruption in the EPA is an attack on Mother Earth stand exposed as the frauds they are,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, to the Daily Caller. “Ending corruption and self-enrichment is good for the environment and other living things.”
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announced Thursday that the agency will no longer foot the bill for gym memberships after he was asked about the documents showing the nearly $15,000 worth of purchases on Fox & Friends.