Emails show ties between new EPA head, energy firms: watchdog
Another one to fire.......
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-pruitt-idUSKBN16129Q?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social
Emails released by the Oklahoma attorney general's office show a cozy relationship between energy companies and Scott Pruitt, who was the state's top prosecutor before being sworn in last week as the new chief U.S. environmental regulator, a media watchdog group said on Wednesday.
The Center for Media and Democracy has sought the release of emails between energy companies and Pruitt for the past two years, saying they show energy companies drafted language that Pruitt's attorney general office then used in suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the office he now heads, over regulations on energy operations.
The center had sued Pruitt on Feb. 7, ahead of the Senate vote to confirm his nomination by President Donald Trump, to release the records detailing his communications with energy companies.
The attorney general's office released more than 7,500 pages of emails late on Tuesday, holding back an unknown number of documents it called exempted or privileged. Oklahoma Judge Aletia Timmons is reviewing those documents, but there is no set time for when or if they would be released.
Among the documents released were communications between Devon Energy and Pruitt's office that suggest the company gave the Oklahoma officials language on limits on methane emissions at oil and gas operations. Pruitt's office then used this language in suing the EPA over the regulations, the documents suggest. (bit.ly/2lFEymC)
The EPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Devon serves as a resource with information and expertise for decision makers, and its contact with Pruitt was consistent with its policy of engaging with policymakers, company spokesman John Porretto said.
Nick Surgey, a research director at the Center for Media and Democracy, called the document release a "major breakthrough" that revealed a close and friendly relationship between Pruitt's office and the oil and gas industry, with frequent meetings, calls, and dinners.
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Trump's cabinet is a total mess......
= new reply since forum marked as read
in the history of our country, bar none.
