Updated at 4:38 p.m.
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt downplayed his trip to Morocco last year, saying the only reason he discussed natural gas exports there was because he was asked to by the Moroccan ambassador to the United States.
The primary purpose of the trip was to hash out the environmental component of a free-trade deal the U.S. finalized with Morocco in February, he said at a hearing Thursday afternoon before the House Appropriations Committee’s interior subcommittee.
“There is a free-trade agreement, the ambassador of Morocco actually met with me in advance of the free-trade agreement that was being negotiated and completed in February of this year,” Pruitt explained, after being prodded by Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine on why an EPA chief would be promoting fossil fuels in another country.
“We were there in December to defend the environmental chapter” of the trade deal, Pruitt said. “That was the focus of the trip.”
“There was a lot of reference made to LNG, only because the ambassador asked me to share that with the individuals when I was in country,” he added.
The EPA inspector general is investigating the trip’s costs, which amounted to $40,000.
The inspector general’s office added the Morocco trip to a previous investigation it was undertaking on Pruitt’s lavish domestic travel and security costs in response to a letter by Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee. Carper also asked the EPA watchdog to probe the focus of Pruitt’s trip and his focus on liquefied natural gas exports from the United States.
“Well, it’s certainly been portrayed in another way and its certainly raised a lot of concerns,” Pingree said after hearing Pruitt’s response. “I would not like to think that you were promoting fossil fuels or fossil fuel sales outside the country.”
The EPA issued a press release on Dec. 12, after his visit, that stated that he was in Morocco to outline “U.S. environmental priorities for updating the environmental work plan under the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement and the potential benefit of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports on Morocco’s economy. ”
Some media reports have noted that the energy lobbyist whose wife Pruitt rented a Capitol Hill condo from was a lobbyist for Cheniere Energy, a top exporter of LNG.
