The Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Director Lisa Jackson demanding information on an alleged secret “internal” email system the agency it uses in addition to the normal public one. The system is an alleged bid to escape federal transparency rules, including the Freedom of Information Act, regarding official communications.
The lawmakers, lead by Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., write:
The inquiry is based on a claim in a new book by Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute and staunch critic of the EPA under President Obama. Horner claims he was told of the existence of the email system while working on his book The Liberal War on Transparency:
“Richard Windsor” was just “[o]ne of the alternate email addresses she used,” according to Horner.
The GOP lawmakers’ letter asks whether Horner’s report is true, if that email account or other non-public ones are still in use, and what is the alternate system’s purpose. A spokesman for the EPA could not be reached for comment.
