Industry-connected political appointees in the Trump administration blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from investigating ethylene oxide polluters and prevented career staff from warning thousands of Americans who live near sources of the cancer-causing gas, according to a scathing new report from the agency’s inspector general. The latest findings by the independent watchdog add more details to reporting by the Chicago Tribune since August 2018, when the Trump EPA released the latest National Air Toxics Assessment without notice and left it up to state and local officials to decide for themselves whether to draw attention to elevated cancer risks in their communities.