Pruitt Must Testify Under Oath

“We strongly agree with Reps. Pallone, DeGette, Tonko, and Castor’s call for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to testify under oath. With twelve separate federal investigations into his misuse of taxpayer funds, unethical behavior, and conflicted relationships with lobbyists, Congress will have questions that require fully truthful answers. 
 
“Too often, Mr. Pruitt has responded to scandals with misleading or false statements – it’s time to compel the truth. When Fox News asked about huge pay raises for his inner circle, he denied knowledge of them – a claim we now know was false. When asked to explain his arrangement to live in a condominium owned by a lobbyist’s wife, Pruitt’s spokesperson denied the lobbyist had clients before EPA – a claim we now know was false. 
 
“Mr. Pruitt has also offered misleading justification for his policies to allow more pollution. For example, he cited a Tennessee Tech University study to allow more high polluting trucks – a debunked paper that turned out to be paid for by the trucking company that would benefit for this actions.  
 
“The request by these committee members is entirely justified by Mr. Pruitt’s record and the enormous number of questions surrounding his tenure at EPA. It is sad that we have an EPA administrator we can’t trust to tell the full truth, but that has proven to be the case.”

—Elgie Holstein, Senior Director for Strategic Planning, Environmental Defense Fund