The Center for Media and Democracy filed a lawsuit against Pruitt Feb. 7 for not releasing 3,000 emails the organization sent open records requests for in 2015 and 2016. On Feb. 16, the day before Pruitt was confirmed as the EPA administrator, an Oklahoma judge ordered him to release the emails.
On Feb. 22, more than 7,500 of Pruitt’s emails were released, revealing that Pruitt did use a personal email account and that he had been communicating with organizations like American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, discussing changes he could make in the EPA that would benefit them, among other things.