Why Did The EPA’S Scott Pruitt Suppress A Report On Corruption In Oklahoma?
By: Sharon Lerner, The Intercept, April 12, 2018
AN AUDIT RELEASED this week found evidence of corruption in how contracts were awarded at the Tar Creek Superfund site in Oklahoma. Gary Jones, the state auditor and inspector who wrote the report, submitted it to then-Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt back in January 2014. But Pruitt inexplicably refused to release it.
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“News reports indicate that Pruitt has a close relationship with Inhofe,” said Daniel Stevens, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability, the nonprofit that sued to get the audit released. “We want to understand their communications about the site.” On Tuesday, the group filed another suit, this one demanding that Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter release Pruitt’s and Inhofe’s communications about the work of the trust at the Tar Creek site.
The EPA did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Whatever Pruitt’s original reason for suppressing the report, it now has national significance. “This whole situation is about the way Pruitt handled alleged wrongdoing at one site,” said Stevens. “He now oversees the entire Superfund program across the country. What does this mean about how he’s running the entire program?”