EPA head met with multiple energy execs in his first weeks.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) often met with executives of fossil fuel and energy companies in his first weeks in office.
The EPA released Scott Pruitt’s first calendars under the Freedom of Information Act late Thursday, initially to E&E News.
In the time period covered — Feb. 21 to March 31 — Pruitt had meetings, phone calls and speeches with leaders in oil, natural gas, coal, the automotive industry, utilities, agriculture and others who would benefit from the Trump administration’s aggressive deregulatory agenda.
He attended a March 22 meeting of the executive council of the American Petroleum Institute at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., with 45 oil and gas CEOs.
Electric utilities were also the subject of numerous meetings.
EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman defended Pruitt’s schedule, saying it fits with the agency’s missions.
“Each meeting, phone call or discussion that the administrator has is focused on the Agency’s work to employ a positive environmental agenda,” she said in a statement.
But Pruitt did meet with some green groups the next month.
He attended an Earth Day event in Texas and met with the Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society, the EPA announced in a statement that day.