After the Environmental Protection Agency was deemed to be violating the law and dealing in “covert propaganda” when promoting water regulations this week, some House Republicans are wondering if the agency did the same for the Clean Power Plan.
On Monday, 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.
Three Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy Thursday asking if the agency engaged in similar behavior when promoting the Clean Power Plan, President Obama’s signature environmental regulation.
Committee Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan, Rep. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky and Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania signed a letter to McCarthy signaling their concerns about the report’s findings.
“EPA’s actions potentially undermined the integrity of the rulemaking process concerning [the rule] and call into question the use of social media to promote other rulemaking activity,” the letter says.
The letter demands the agency turn over all social media and web postings about the Clean Power Plan, all communications related to social media campaigns for the plan and the amount of money spent to promote the plan on social media.
The Clean Power Plan requires states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants one-third by 2030.
Upton said the EPA betrayed the public trust with its social media campaign to promote the Waters of the United States rule.
“EPA getting busted for its illegal propaganda and lobbying on the WOTUS rule raises serious red flags, and we want to know if these shenanigans extended to the climate rules,” he said. “EPA took an aggressive approach with respect to its climate rules and we want to ensure that EPA did not violate the law promoting these rules.”
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 report also concluded the EPA broke the law by including links in a blog post to the Natural Resource Defense Council and the Surfrider Foundation. The blog post sought to show why the water rule would benefit beer drinkers and surfers. However, the posts that were linked to by the EPA contained buttons that allowed the reader to contact Congress.
Because those links allowed readers to contact Congress in support of or against legislation, the EPA violated an anti-lobbying provision in federal law, according to the GAO.
In a statement released Thursday, the EPA said it disagreed with the report asserting it broke the law with its social media campaign for the water rule.
Spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said the agency stands by its work to promote the Clean Power Plan.
The EPA places a high priority on providing the public timely, accurate and accessible information about the environment and our rulemaking activities,” she said. “Social media is an increasingly important tool in this public outreach and education effort. “The agency is continually learning and refining its approaches, both to make sure communications are effective and to ensure that we continue to be in compliance with the law.”
