The existential threat posed by climate change can often obscure the more straightaway vulnerabilities that regulatory bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency guard against . As Scott Faber of the non-profit-making research organisation Environmental Working Group put it , “ The EPA is the only guarantee that when you turn on your tap your water is n’t full of shit . ” So it ’s alarming that Scott Pruitt , new confirmed decision maker of the Environmental Protection Agency once worked on behalf of bestower in Oklahoma to stop his newfangled employer from keep literal chicken shit out of the water system .
On Wednesday , the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney Generalreleased one thousand of pages of emailsbetween Scott Pruitt , his senior staff , and high - level executives , lobbyist , and lawyers in the fogey fuel industry that show how Pruitt worked to further the financial and political agenda of the very people that he , as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency , is now tasked with influence . The same bureau was a suspect in at least twenty - two different suit that Pruitt , in his role as AG , either brought or joined . As Oklahoma AG , he sue the EPA 14 times . In many of those sound battle — some of which areongoing — Pruitt was joined by fossil fuel companies and other polluter fighting against President Obama ’s environmental order of business ; in other causa , Pruitt file away brief on behalf of those company when they sued the EPA themselves . He get together with defiler in other way of life , too , namely , by taking their money .
As the New York Times and others have reported , an Environmental Working Group analysis launch that Pruitt receive more than $ 40,000 in run contribution during his 2010 attorney general campaign from defendant in a lawsuit make for by his Democratic predecessor , Drew Edmondson , against poultry companionship in Arkansas that were pollute the water in neighboring Oklahoma .
Then the case — which Pruittappears to have misinform congress aboutduring his confirmation sense of hearing — stalled . By 2013 , Pruitt had been elect Oklahoma AG , and the office’senvironmental law budgethad been cut entirely . subsist environmental typeface — like the chicken shit lawsuit — were proceed under the newly - created “ federalism social unit , ” dedicate to using the courts to fight “ unwarrantable ordinance and systematic overreach ” by Washington and run by Pruitt ’s solicitor general , whose office , e-mail release on Wednesday show , was just as nearly tied to muscularity company as Pruitt himself .
The emails have been put out in response to a court order , follow years of postponement culminated in a cause filed by the Center for Media and Democracy — and just Day after the Senate voted to affirm him as EPA decision maker . “ There is no valid sound justification for the email we have last night not being released prior to Pruitt ’s ratification suffrage other than to bilk public examination , ” Arn Pearson , general counsellor for CMD , said in a statement . “ There are hundreds of email between the AG ’s office staff , Devon Energy , and other defiler that Senators should have been permitted to review prior to their ballot to valuate Pruitt ’s ties to the fogey fuel industriousness . ”
According to CMD ’s executive director , Nick Surgey , the AG ’s office is still holding back a substantial number of reactive document , including the missive , drafted by oil color lobbyists andobtained by the New York Times , that Pruitt send to the EPA , the Department of the Interior , and President Obama himself on official state letterhead . “ That ’s really call representative government in my view of the world,”Pruitt later said .
Thanks to this batch of e-mail , we now know that that a senior counselor-at-law at Koch Industries onceset up a conference callwith several high - grade Pruitt staff member to discuss so - squall “ Judicial Hellholes ” wherein , agree to the right - wing American Tort Reform Foundation , “ Book of Judges in civil cases consistently use laws and court procedure in an unjust and crazy manner ” ; that lawyers for industry groupscoordinated effectual strategywith the AG ’s office , and that in January 2013 an petroleum industriousness lobbyist was capable to excerpt policy concessions from a federal agency by alluding to the threat of a causa , not from the oil manufacture , but from the Oklahoma lawyer general .
In that instance , Devon Energy ’s chief lobbyist , Bill Whitsitt , wrote to Patrick R. Wyrick , the canvasser general , to rent him sleep together that the Bureau of Land Management had agreed , “ thanks to input received , ” to pop the question different rules for fracking on federal country . The “ input received , ” it turns out , was a warning that states like Oklahoma would sue if the suggest fracking formula were accepted . Whitsitt did not react to a request for remark from Gizmodo .
We now also know that a few month later on , Whitsitt send out Pruitt ’s senior staff a draft letter for Pruitt to either air to federal agency or use as talking points in a conference call with regulators on the fracking rule . Whatever they were — the attached letter was not included in the released documents — Pruitt and Devon ’s fight against the fracking rule was successful in both the short and foresightful terms : BLMrevised the rule that fountain , and then a federal judgestruck it down altogetherthis retiring summer .
In May 2013 , Pruitt ’s deputy canvasser full general , Clayton Eubanks , consulted with Devon executives ( including Whitsitt ) on the language of a alphabetic character regarding the Clean Air Act that the attorney generalwould eventually send to the EPAon official , state letterhead .
Devon was n’t the only fogy fuel radical whose order of business Pruitt help along during his time as Oklahoma AG : Wednesday ’s emails show that Roderick Hastie , a lobbyist for a legal philosophy firm that Pruitt back in at least one suit against the EPA , ply Eubanks with at least two white papers seemingly containing talking points for Pruitt to expend when discussing likely litigation with other lawyer general .
“ Corporate lawyers producing talking power point about [ Pruitt ’s ] accomplishments seems like the butt waggle the dog , ” Lisa Graves , executive director at the Center for Media and Democracy , told Gizmodo in an email , “ but that ’s because I wait the state ’s top natural law enforcement officeholder to be rightfully independent of the industries they are supposed to be helping to baffle or pursue for likely violations of country constabulary . Instead , Pruitt search like a football player with the corporation as the coach , giving him command and talking up how well he executed their playbook , while being paid by the taxpayers to supposedly serve up the public interest . ”
Wednesday ’s e-mail confirm what campaign contributions already suggest — that Pruitt run on vegetable oil and coal and raw gas . To particular date , the Environmental Working Group has bump , co - litigator in lawsuit Pruitt either play or join have contributed more than a poop - million dollar to his campaigns and affiliated PACs — a turn that does not let in contribution to two secretive political organisation , the Republican Attorneys General Association and the affiliated Rule of Law Defense Fund , in which Pruitt is an active extremity .
These electronic mail also show that , in January 2014 , Sarah Magruder - Lyle , a lobbyist for the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers — a fogey fuel industriousness mathematical group , many of whose member have worked with Pruitt in litigate the EPA — care Pruitt ’s boss of staff a felicitous young year and asked if she would be attend the RAGA wintertime get together in February . “ We need to catch up soon- it ’s been way too long , ” Lyle , aBush - era White House liaisonto the Department of Energy , write . At a staff hideaway last twelvemonth , Chet Thompson , president of American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and deputy general counsel to the EPA under Bush in person thanked him and Strange fortheir “ instrumental ” workin pushing back against environmental regulations .
Before Pruitt negotiated his “ historic ” 2013 settlement with the crybaby - prick polluters , the EPA start a years - long water quality study in the Illinois River watershed . The government agency has loose some preliminary report , but the last psychoanalysis is yet to be discharge and issue .
“ The manakin that EPA developed would normally form the cornerstone for make decision on what kinds of pollution reduction are necessary to meet water supply quality objectives , ” a former employee of Oklahoma ’s Department of Environmental Quality , Mark Derichsweiler wrote in an electronic mail to Gizmodo . “ The modelling are just a tool . After they are developed , they have to be enforce to find solutions . ” He go forward : “ I realize we are no longer operating in ‘ normal ’ times so I really do n’t know what to have a bun in the oven next . I surely do n’t carry Scott Pruitt to be interested in cracking down on any polluters . ”
In a indite statement provided to Gizmodo , the EPA confirmed that the body of water timber study was on-going . “ We are cover to work with state and tribal partners to down the model to bode water timbre in the watershed , ” agency spokesman Joe Hubbard pen , adding that the agency intends to “ solicit public input ” on the models before nail down any “ pollutant diminution approach . ” That is to say — before coming to any conclusions about how much volaille shit is acceptable to have in the Illinois River watershed .
Derichsweiler retired in 2015 after almost 40 class in government , frustrated with Pruitt ’s obstructionism . He told Gizmodo , “ He ’s not who I ’d want to be in charge of our environmental hereafter . ”
The emails released on Wednesday can be foundhere . If you notice anything that we missed , please let us know .
This story was produced by Gizmodo Media Group’sSpecial Projects Desk .
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