The Oklahoma attorney general’s office is trying to stall compliance with a court mandate to release former attorney general Scott Pruitt’s emails now that he has become the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
A state judge issued an emergency order a week ago ordering the attorney general’s office to release thousands of Pruitt’s emails from when he was the state’s attorney general.
The attorney general’s office has released more than 7,000 emails in response to the Center for Media and Democracy’s open records request that it made two years ago. The emails were released Tuesday evening in response to a court-imposed deadline. The emails show Pruitt’s communications with fossil fuel groups about ways to counter environmental regulations on the oil and gas industry.
The release included a small fraction of Pruitt’s emails from several open records requests. Mike Hunter, the new Oklahoma attorney general, petitioned the court Thursday night to ask for more time fulfilling the request.
Democrats on Capitol Hill, who tried to stall Pruitt’s confirmation by asking the Senate leadership to wait on the emails, said Hunter’s action showed he is complicit in trying to cover up the truth about Pruitt’s pro-industry record.
“Throughout Mr. Pruitt’s confirmation process, my colleagues and I sought the truth regarding these documents and, ultimately, Mr. Pruitt’s record,” said Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee. “This move by Mr. Pruitt’s successor to delay the release of these documents indefinitely indicates his intent to further obscure the truth and keep concerned Americans in the dark.”
Carper and other Democrats on the committee argue that Pruitt has a long history of supporting the energy industry in its fight against EPA regulations. They say the emails provide evidence on the width and breadth of Pruitt’s involvement with the industry in undermining the agency he now leads.
About four years ago, Lisa Jackson, former President Barack Obama’s first EPA administrator, became embroiled in a controversial email scandal when it was discovered through an opens record request, similar to the one Pruitt now faces, that she often used an email alias to conduct official agency business, often to communicate with environmental groups. Jackson used a man’s name, Richard Windsor, as her email alias. She resigned soon after the disclosure.
Hunter’s office told the court in a brief that obeying its order “subjects the defendant to a nearly Herculean task of responding to five large open records requests in a 10-day period — and ignoring all other [open records] requests submitted by other parties prior to plaintiff’s various requests.”
The media activists called Hunter’s petition nothing more than “stonewalling by Team Pruitt.” The group had waited two years for the emails to be released.
Carper agreed, saying the claim “that they suddenly need more time is nothing but continued obstruction from the AG’s office.”
