The Oklahoma Bar Association is investigating environmentalists’ complaints that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt used a private email address to conduct official business when he was the state’s attorney general.
The Center for Biological Diversity submitted the complaint to the association last week, claiming that Pruitt inaccurately told a Senate panel in Washington that he never used a private email to conduct his duties as attorney general.
The group is part of a coalition of environmental groups that is suing the Trump administration for approving the Keystone XL pipeline. One other person was named on the complaint, University of Oklahoma law professor Kristen Van de Biezenbos.
The complaint said the state attorney general office’s recent court-ordered disclosure of hundreds of Pruitt’s emails and documents showed that he did use his personal email in an official capacity on a number of occasions.
The complaint said Pruitt “misrepresented a material fact” during a Senate confirmation hearing in January, in which he told lawmakers that he did not use a personal account. The group hopes to show that Pruitt violated Oklahoma’s rules for professional conduct, which could result in his disbarment.
“In apparent contradiction to Mr. Pruitt’s statement, in an e-mail dated August 14, 2013, Ms. Sarah K. Magruder Lyle, vice president, Strategic Initiatives, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, communicated with Mr. Pruitt, requesting that he take a particular action in his capacity as Oklahoma attorney general,” the complaint stated.
“Another email includes a partially redacted email address for Mr. Pruitt, and shows correspondence from an Oklahoma representative of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, regarding a speaking engagement for Mr. Pruitt at an ALEC meeting in his capacity as Oklahoma attorney general.”
Pruitt was confirmed last month to head the EPA, but not before Democrats tried to block his nomination at every turn. Democrats complained that Pruitt did not answer their questions adequately, prodding the GOP leadership to delay a confirmation vote until the Oklahoma attorney’s general office disclosed Pruitt’s emails under an emergency court order.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky ignored their request.
