EPA Chief Scott Pruitt's Emails Show Close Ties With Oil and Gas Companies
24 February 2017 - 12:08PM
Dow Jones News
By Amy Harder and Erin Ailworth
WASHINGTON -- Thousands of newly released emails showing close
contact between Scott Pruitt, the new chief of the Environmental
Protection Agency, and oil and natural-gas companies are casting
clouds over Mr. Pruitt's newly minted leadership of the agency
tasked with protecting the nation's air and water.
The emails, which cover a period when Mr. Pruitt was attorney
general of Oklahoma, were released earlier this week after an order
from a state judge. They detail Mr. Pruitt's correspondence with
several oil companies that have big operations in Oklahoma,
including Devon Energy Corp.
The emails could bolster the concerns of congressional Democrats
and other critics, who say Mr. Pruitt has potential conflicts of
interest since he will be running an agency whose job is to
regulate companies he was close to in his prior position. The EPA
didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
"He came from an oil and gas state, and you would expect that
kind of an interchange between he and the constituents in that
state, and he was an elected representative of those constituents,"
said Christine Todd Whitman, a former EPA administrator under
George W. Bush, in an interview on MSNBC on Thursday.
"So that, in and of itself, isn't unusual," Ms. Whitman added.
"What he's got to do is make very clear, first of all, his
understanding that he's now in a totally different position."
As Oklahoma attorney general, Mr. Pruitt was part of a coalition
of about two dozen mostly Republican state attorneys general who
sued the federal government over an array of regulations during Mr.
Obama's presidency, targeting numerous environmental rules. Mr.
Pruitt often joined lawsuits with energy companies that also
contributed to his campaigns for the attorney general post.
The Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive group that
filed the lawsuit seeking the emails' release, said it would keep
pushing to release more emails. "The newly released emails reveal a
close and friendly relationship between Scott Pruitt's office and
the fossil-fuel industry, with frequent meetings, calls, dinners
and other events," said Nick Surgey, research director at the
group.
The emails reveal that Mr. Pruitt's office worked closely at
times with Devon Energy, an oil-and-gas producer based in Oklahoma,
and other energy companies, as they worked to influence proposed
federal regulations affecting the industry.
The close alliance between Mr. Pruitt and Devon, along with
other fossil-fuel companies, was first reported by the New York
Times in 2014.
There was much back-and-forth, for instance, over a letter that
Devon helped draft and that Mr. Pruitt's office ultimately used to
make a case against a methane emission rule in 2013.
In another instance that year, Devon provided Mr. Pruitt's
office with its thoughts on a proposed draft rule from the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management that one Devon executive characterized as
"sweeping unnecessary federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing
operations on federal and Indian lands."
Devon defended its interactions with Mr. Pruitt's office, saying
it has a "clear obligation to our shareholders" to be involved in
such discussions and sometimes serves a resource for decision
makers.
"Our engagement with Scott Pruitt as Attorney General of
Oklahoma is consistent -- and proportionate -- with our commitment
to engage in conversations with policymakers on a broad range of
matters that promote jobs, economic growth and a robust domestic
energy sector," the company said in a statement.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 23, 2017 19:53 ET (00:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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