0:22
- ABC News
- March 30, 2018
Dems question Pruitt's condo tied to lobbyists
Democrats in Congress are demanding details.
0:22
WY has been blessed w/tremendous natural resources that help power America & today we saw that firsthand at Black Thunder. @EPA is committed to working w/our energy producers as partners to protect the environment & provide affordable energy to Americans. https://t.co/DvuMGiS1af pic.twitter.com/zsFSDe9dZZ
— Administrator Pruitt (@EPAScottPruitt) March 29, 2018
But Democrats on the key congressional committees that oversee the EPA expressed outrage over the undisclosed arrangement.
“Administrator Pruitt should reveal the rental agreement so we can see if he received any preferential treatment, as well as his meeting schedules and itineraries because he has been the most secretive Administrator at the EPA that we’ve ever had,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/minister_rabbah-scott-pruitt-moroco-ho-ps-180329_hpEmbed_4x3_384.jpg\")
“Unfortunately, this seems to be another example in a concerning pattern with Mr. Pruitt,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Democrats from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over EPA, tweeted about the ABC News report and some Democratic members tweeted about the housing arrangement using the hashtag #BootPruitt, which is part of a href=\"http://abcnews.com/Politics/environmental-groups-launch-ads-fox-friends-boot-pruitt/story?id=54071248\" target=\"_blank\">coordinated campaign against the administrator launched by several environmental groups this week.
Has #PollutingPruitt ever seen a potential conflict of interest that he didn’t want to exploit? It’s no wonder he prefers secrecy to transparency. https://t.co/gHIY8sMYjt
— Energy Commerce Dems (@EnergyCommerce) March 29, 2018
That effort includes groups like the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and League of Conservation Voters, who argue that Pruitt's decisions benefit the oil and gas industries.
\"The Administrator of the EPA should stand up to corporate polluters, not live in their homes while pushing their agenda at every turn,\" Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement.
The head of the nonprofit watchdog group the Environmental Integrity Project and former EPA Director of Civil Enforcement Eric Shaffer called on the EPA's inspector general and Congress to look into the issue.
“Does this explain why Pruitt flew to Morocco to pitch natural gas exports, which isn’t really an EPA concern?” Schaeffer wrote in a statement.
The EPA inspector general's office is aware of the report, according to spokesman Jeff Lagda.
The agency's inspector general is already looking into the cost of Pruitt's travel and whether the agency followed all proper procedures.
The EPA previously confirmed that Pruitt often flies first or business class, citing security reasons, but he later told CBS News that he has asked his staff to revisit that policy. That report is expected to be made public later this year, as well as an audit into the cost of Pruitt's personal security detail.
ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Ali Dukakis contributed to this report.
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