EPA Inspector General Announces “Systemic Audit” into Administrator Scott Pruitt’s Travel

Federal Probe of Pruitt’s Frequent Flights Back to His Home State Prompted by Environmental Integrity Project Investigation

Washington, D.C. – The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General today announced that it has launched a “systemic audit” into EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s travel.

The office made the announcement in a letter to Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., Democrat of New Jersey and Ranking Member of the Committee of Energy and Commerce, who wrote to the office on July 28 requesting the investigation in response to an Environmental Integrity Project report and release of public records.

“We are glad that the EPA Office of Inspector General is looking into this issue, to determine whether taxpayer funds were spent appropriately,” said Sylvia Lam, Attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

EIP submitted Freedom of Information Act requests and received EPA records that show Pruitt, the former Oklahoma Attorney General, spent almost half of his days this spring in Oklahoma or on trips that included stops in his home state.  The airfare for these trips cost taxpayers more than $12,000, with much of that covering travel to and from the administrator’s home state.

The records, which are posted on EIP’s website, show a total of 48 out of 92 days in March, April and May in which Pruitt was travelling. Forty-three of those travel days were spent in Oklahoma or heading to or from Pruitt’s home state.

Although former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy also frequently travelled back to her home in Boston, she paid for those flights, according to a report in The New York Times. By contrast, taxpayers paid for the more than $12,000 in airfare for Pruitt, according to the EPA records obtained by EIP.

The EPA documents can be found on EIP’s website here.

The letters from the EPA Office of Inspector General and Congressman Pallone can be found here and here.

The Office of Inspector General also posted a memo about the investigation on its website.

The Environmental Integrity Project is a 15-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, based in Washington D.C., dedicated to enforcing environmental laws and holding polluters and governments accountable to protect public health.

Media contact: Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project, (202) 888-2703 or tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org

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