The inspector general’s office at the EPA will investigate an April meeting between EPA administrator Scott Pruitt and the National Mining Association, said The Hill newspaper. At the meeting, Pruitt reportedly encouraged association members to press President Trump to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change — a potential violation of anti-lobbying laws, according to critics.
In a letter to Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Inspector General Albert Elkins said his office would review the meeting. A “comprehensive factual record” of the meeting would be a stepping-stone for Democrats seeking a Government Accountability Office opinion on whether Pruitt engaged in lobbying.
Democrats said during an Energy and Commerce hearing that the EPA shows “all the signs of an agency captured by industry,” reported E&E News. The hearing was the first testimony by Pruitt on Capitol Hill since June. Pruitt said his idea of a “red team-blue team” debate of climate change could be held as soon as January. “That would be a process where we would focus on objective, transparent real-time review of questions and answers around the issue of CO2 [carbon dioxide].”