Research Cited

The emails, requested by the Center for Media and Democracy in January 2015, show a friendly, close relationship, marked by happy hours and exchanged favors, between Pruitt’s office and a number of oil and gas executives.

A liberal group this week released thousands of pages of emails, obtained under an open records law, detailing communications between new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt and various energy and conservative interest groups.

Environmental concerns also are factors. Industry analysts expect some easing of coal mining regulations under the leadership of former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt at the EPA. Emails released this week reveal Pruitt has had close ties to the fossil fuel industry and has coordinated with fossil fuel companies to work against federal regulations, according to published reports.

Mr. Pruitt, Oklahoma’s former attorney general and the newly installed head of the EPA, has become the top target for environmentalists, who argue that he is too closely tied to the oil and gas industry. At the heart of that argument are tens of thousands of pages of emails from Mr. Pruitt’s time as attorney general in Oklahoma. Documents that have been released show his office was in near constant contact with leading energy companies, and the two sides worked in concert in the fight against Obama-era environmental regulations.

More than 7,500 pages of emails between Devon Energy and #Scott Pruitt have been released to the public the Center for Media and Democracy by way of an open records request.

Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has vowed to roll back flagship regulations that tackle climate change and water pollution, telling a conservative audience in Maryland they would be “justified” in believing the environmental regulator should be completely disbanded.