Two Republican senators are asking the Department of Justice to investigate if the Environmental Protection Agency knowingly broke federal propaganda law with its social media campaign for a clean water rule.
Sens. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., and Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch Thursday asking for a formal investigation into reports that the EPA broke federal law while promoting the Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule.
In December, the Government Accountability Office ruled the EPA violated the law and its campaign was akin to “covert propaganda” because a message posted on nearly 1,000 social media accounts did not identify itself as being generated by the EPA.
“Something is tremendously wrong when a federal agency thinks it can break the law and illegally spend taxpayer dollars,” said Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. “But that is the situation we have right now with EPA and their efforts to fool hardworking Americans about their Waters of the United States rule. EPA must be held accountable, and I look forward to hearing what the Department of Justice finds in their investigation.”
The EPA says the Waters of the U.S. rule would protect streams and wetlands that affect water quality and would more precisely define waters protected by the Clean Water Act. But ranchers, farmers and states argue it gives the federal agency unprecedented authority over drainage ditches and nearly anything else that can contain water.
President Obama vetoed a resolution that would block the rule earlier this week and on Thursday the Senate failed to override that veto. A federal court order has stayed the rule while the judges determine if they have jurisdiction over the case.
The letter to Lynch aims to put to rest claims that the report by the Government Accountability Office is merely an opinion.
“Given EPA’s continuing violations, and the cavalier attitude displayed by EPA public affairs staff and Department of Justice line attorneys, we request the Department of Justice immediately investigate whether a criminal violation of the Antideficiency Act has taken place,” the letter states. “Only a thorough and independent investigation can determine whether a crime has occurred.
The investigators ruled that the use of Thunderclap, a “crowdspeaking platform” that helps a single message be shared across multiple social media platforms at once, was “covert propaganda.”
The EPA created a Thunderclap page titled “I Choose Clean Water.” When the page gained 500 supporters, it posted a message to all of those supporters’ social media accounts. It is estimated the post reached 1.8 million people on social media.
The message said: “Clean water is important to me. I support EPA’s efforts to protect it for my health, my family and my community.” The message also included a link to the EPA’s Thunderclap page.
The report indicates the message did not identify that it came from the EPA. That violated federal law that requires federal agencies to disclose their roles in disseminating information, the GAO said.
The EPA, while promoting the Thunderclap page, said it was akin to a “virtual flash-mob” and 980 social media accounts posted the message on Sept. 29, 2014.
The watchdog did not take issue with the EPA’s use of Facebook and Twitter accounts to promote the rule. Those communications showed the EPA’s involvement and were transparent, thus not violating federal law, according to the letter.
“The EPA thinks it can stonewall all it wants, but no bureaucracy is above the law,” Sasse said. “Despite the fact that the Government Accountability Office found that they broke federal law by running a covert propaganda campaign to support their sweeping WOTUS rule, the EPA has doubled down on their lawlessness. It’s time for the Department of Justice to investigate.”
The EPA has not responded to a message seeking comment.
