"Investigators didn't uncover concrete evidence that former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt had pushed a prominent trade group to weigh in against the Paris Agreement.
The EPA Office of Inspector General's Office of Investigations conducted a dozen interviews with agency officials and members of the National Mining Association to uncover who said what in an April 2017 meeting with Pruitt. The fact-finding inquiry, outlined in records obtained by E&E News under the Freedom of Information Act, was requested to establish whether the former administrator had pressured NMA to push for the United States to withdraw from the climate change accord.
If Pruitt had been found to have done so, it could have been a violation of anti-lobbying provisions in appropriations law. Instead, the OIG's agents found conflicting accounts of what the ex-EPA chief said in the meeting, according to the documents, which were pockmarked with redactions.
While some of those interviewed said Pruitt did discuss the Paris deal and his position in opposing it, others said he never mentioned the agreement. Further, everyone interviewed either denied or did not remember Pruitt asking NMA members to support withdrawal from the climate pact."
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