EPA chief's old emails released

As Oklahoma AG, Pruitt close to drillers, utilities, files show

Scott Pruitt, shown on March 10, 2016, was in close touch with a network of energy firms and ultraconservative groups while Oklahoma’s attorney general, according to newly released emails.
Scott Pruitt, shown on March 10, 2016, was in close touch with a network of energy firms and ultraconservative groups while Oklahoma’s attorney general, according to newly released emails.

In his previous role as Oklahoma's attorney general, the Environmental Protection Agency's new administrator regularly huddled with fossil fuel companies 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 released Wednesday.





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"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 for the Center for Media and Democracy, which has sued to compel the release of the emails.

The emails highlight an often-chummy relationship between Pruitt's office and Devon Energy, a major oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City. The correspondence makes clear that top officials at the company met often with Pruitt or people who worked for him. Devon representatives also helped draft -- and redraft -- letters for Pruitt to sign and send to federal officials in an effort to stave off new regulations.

"Any suggestions?" a deputy solicitor general in Pruitt's office wrote to a Devon executive in early May 2013, including a draft of a letter the office was planning to send to the EPA regarding proposed regulations of methane emissions.

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"Here you go," the executive, Bill Whitsitt replied. "Please note that you could use just the red changes, or both red and blue (the latter being some further improvements from one of our experts) or none."

"I sent the letter today," the deputy solicitor general wrote the next day. "Thanks for all your help on this."

The emails show that Pruitt and his office were in touch with a network of ultraconservative groups, many of which in the past have received backing from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, the libertarian owners of Koch Industries, a major oil company. The documents detail not only how Pruitt's office at times coordinated with industry officials to fight unwanted regulations from Washington, but also how he was a highly sought-after speaker at conferences and other gatherings for groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, which works with corporate interests and state legislators to shape key pieces of legislation.

In one example, Pruitt was a speaker at an American Legislative Exchange Council conference on May 3, 2013, in Oklahoma City. He was part of a panel called, "Embracing American Energy Opportunities: From Wellheads to Pipelines." The event also featured a reception at the Petroleum Club and a luncheon sponsored by Koch Industries.

The Oklahoma attorney general's office handed over the batch of emails -- nearly 7,000 pages in all -- this week in order to meet a deadline set by a judge who ordered the documents' release after more than two years of effort by the Center for Media and Democracy, a government watchdog organization. The group had sued to compel the state to release the documents under public-records laws.

Though the emails show Pruitt's ties with a wide range of fossil fuel interests and conservative political groups, they show a particularly close relationship with Devon Energy, a major oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City.

Much of the correspondence revolves around arranging speaking engagements, obtaining contact information for people at the federal Office of Management and Budget and coordinating letter-writing efforts.

Pruitt's close ties to Devon Energy were first highlighted in 2014 by The New York Times, which reported that a letter ostensibly written by the attorney general alleging that the EPA overestimated air pollution from natural-gas drilling was actually written by the company's attorneys. "That's actually called representative government in my view of the world," Pruitt later said of the letter.

The emails' release comes just days after Pruitt was confirmed as the EPA's new leader.

In a statement Tuesday, the Oklahoma attorney general's office said it "went above and beyond what is required under the Open Records Act and produced thousands of additional documents that, but for the Court's order, would typically be considered records" outside the scope of the act. "This broad disclosure should provide affirmation that, despite politically motivated allegations, the Office of the Attorney General remains fully committed to the letter and spirit of the Open Records Act," spokesman Lincoln Ferguson said.

Pruitt's office at the EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

In an email, Devon Energy spokesman John Porretto said the company's engagement with Pruitt during his time as attorney general was "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." He added: "We have a clear obligation to our shareholders and others to be involved in these discussions related to job growth, economic growth and domestic energy. ... It would be indefensible for us to not be engaged in these important issues."

Environmental groups on Wednesday were quick to criticize Pruitt, arguing that the emails showed once again his penchant for putting the interests of industry over the health of ordinary citizens.

"This is Scott Pruitt's mission statement: attack environmental safeguards, protect industrial polluters and let the public pay the price," Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. "These emails tell us that he's in league with the very industries we've now entrusted him to police. He so deeply imbedded himself with energy companies that they described Pruitt and his allies as 'fossil energy AGs,' a badge of dishonor for a public guardian if ever there were one."

The Oklahoma attorney general's office withheld some documents as exempted or privileged and has asked Judge Aletia Haynes Timmons to review whether they should be released, according to the Center for Media and Democracy. Timmons also ordered Pruitt's former office to hand over records related to five outstanding records requests by early next week.

Information for this article was contributed by Chris Mooney and Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post.

A Section on 02/23/2017

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