Research Cited

In his previous role as Oklahoma’s attorney general, the Environmental Protection Agency’s new administrator regularly huddled with fossil fuel firms and electric utilities about how to combat federal environmental regulations and spoke to conservative political groups about what they called government “overreach,” according to thousands of pages of emails made public Wednesday.

Documents suggest former Oklahoma AG followed lobby group’s guidance on challenging environmental regulations, and put letterhead to oil firm complaints more than once.

Many of the regulations discussed in the emails still sit before EPA today, putting them squarely in Pruitt’s lap.

If you missed Rachel’s coverage of this last week, it’s a doozy of a story. Pruitt, in effect, was illegally hiding official emails that documented his cooperation with the oil and gas industries – the industries he’ll ostensibly help oversee as the head of the EPA. The Center for Media and Democracy filed suit to obtain the emails Pruitt wanted to hide, and last week, a judge ordered their release.

Emails released Tuesday night illustrate the remarkably close relationship between EPA head Scott Pruitt and the oil and gas industry while he served as Oklahoma’s attorney general. The emails were made public as the result of a lawsuit and open records request by the Center for Media and Democracy only days after Pruitt was confirmed to lead an agency he has long fought to undermine.

Emails from new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s tenure as Oklahoma attorney general reveal several instances of coordination between his office and oil interests in his state.