A liberal activist group filed a lawsuit Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), charging he improperly withheld communications records with energy companies for as long as two years.
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) filed the suit after the Oklahoma Attorney General chief Scott Pruitt failed to turn over his emails. The center accused Pruitt of violating the state’s Open Records Act.
“Scott Pruitt has withheld access to thousands of emails with businesses or organizations whose activities adversely affect the environment and other records of vital public interest for the past two years,” First Amendment lawyer Robert Nelon, who is representing CMD, said in a statement.
“His inaction denies the public ‘prompt and reasonable’ access to public documents and violates Oklahoma’s Open Records Act,” Nelon said. (RELATED: EPA Employees Not ‘Intentionally’ Breaking Law By Deleting Official Texts, IG Claims)
Center director of research Nick Surgey added: “We are doing this because these emails should be released so that people can properly vet his record before the Senate votes to confirm him.”
The lawsuit seeks to force Pruitt to release records related to nine open records requests since January 2015. Other groups have filed around 50 similar requests, Reuters reported.
The CMD’s first request sought more than 3,000 emails, but Pruitt’s office hasn’t said how many records are related to the other eight requests. (EPA Execs Rely On Private Emails To Talk With Lobbyists)
Pruitt’s office promised CMD the records’ release was “imminent,” Reuters reported.
“The fact that they have now filed suit despite our ongoing communications demonstrates that this is nothing more than political theater,” attorney general spokesman Lincoln Ferguson said in a statement. “The office of attorney general remains committed to fulfilling both the letter and spirit of the Open Records Act.”
Pruitt has sued the EPA 14 times to weaken or eliminate the agency’s regulations, which has led critics to see him as an ally for energy companies.
A Senate committee approved Pruitt Thursday despite a boycott by Democrats. A date is not set for the full Senate’s vote.
Pruitt’s treatment of Oklahoma’s open records laws could provide a window into how the attorney general views government transparency. The EPA under former President Barack Obama was caught skirting federal open records laws on numerous occasions with its chief officers using aliases, personal accounts for business, deleting communications and delaying records requests.
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