Released under court order, thousands of pages of emails show how Scott Pruitt, the new EPA administrator, “closely coordinated with major oil and gas producers, electric utilities” and anti-regulation political groups in opposing environmental regulations while serving as Oklahoma attorney general, said The New York Times. “The correspondence points to the tension emerging as Mr Pruitt is now charged with regulating many of the same companies,” said the newspaper, adding, “the emails are unlikely to cause Mr. Pruitt significant new problems.”
Rather, the emails provide more depth into issues under question, said the Times, which previously investigated Pruitt’s relationship with the energy industry. “The companies provided him draft letters to send to federal regulators in an attempt to block federal regulations intended to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas wells, ozone air pollution, and chemicals used in fracking, the email correspondence shows. They (the companies) held secret meetings to discuss more comprehensive ways to combat the Obama administration’s environmental agenda” while praising Pruitt for his help.
Green groups unsuccessfully objected that Pruitt’s record, including 14 lawsuits against EPA, make him incompatible with EPA’s mission. On his first day on the job, Pruitt told employees to hew closely to the law and to avoid “abuses that occur sometimes,” such as “using the guidance process to do regulation” and allowing “regulation in litigation.”
The emails were released at the direction of an Oklahoma judge in a lawsuit by the Center for Media and Democracy, which describes itself as a watchdog against “corruption and undue influence of corporations on media and democracy.” The center said Pruitt’s office flouted the state’s open records law by refusing to make the emails public. “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 research director Nick Surgey.
An oil and gas lobbying group “coordinated opposition in 2013 to both the Renewable Fuels Standard program and ozone limits with Pruitt’s office” at the same time the oil industry argued against the biofuels mandate, said the center. The lobbying group gave Pruitt “a template for an Oklahoma petition, noting ‘this argument is more credible coming from a state,'” said the center.