The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the Inspector General is starting an investigation into EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s frequent travel to and from his home state of Oklahoma.
The investigation is being started based on congressional requests and a hotline complaint, “all of which expressed concerns about Administrator Pruitt’s travel — primarily his frequent travel to and from his home state of Oklahoma at taxpayer expense,” according to a letter sent by the EPA inspector’s office to the agency’s chief financial officer Monday.
The inspector general’s office said it plans to determine the extent and cost of Pruitt’s flights through July 31 and if proper accounting procedures were followed.
The probe also will determine if the procedures were sufficient to prevent “fraud, waste and abuse with the administrator’s travel that included trips to Oklahoma.”
The concerns over Pruitt’s frequent travel were raised publicly by the nonprofit Environment Integrity Project in July, when it released a report that documented Pruitt’s trips using records acquired through Freedom of Information Act requests.
The cost of Pruitt’s trips totaled $12,000, and he spent 43 out of 92 days from March through May in Oklahoma, or traveling to or from the state, according to the group.
