Former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman sees nothing wrong with the communications Scott Pruitt had with oil and gas companies while he was attorney general in Oklahoma.
It’s what she said in an interview this week with MSNBC following the release of more than 7,000 communications turned over by the Attorney General’s office to the Wisconsin based Center for Media and Democracy.
“Well, frankly, he came from an oil and gas state and you would expect that kind of an interchange between he and the constituents in that state and he was an elected representative of those constituents. So that in-it-of itself isn’t unusual,” responded Whitman to a question from Hallie Jackson.
The Center described the messages and emails as Pruitt being too cozy with the industry in an attempt to “undermine” climate change policies of the Obama administration.
Whitman went on to counsel Pruitt to make sure he listens to more than just the energy industry in enforcing environmental laws. However, she said they also have a right to be heard and to “have a seat at the table.”
What the oil and gas industry does not have, according to Whitman is the right to write the regulations.
“Yes, he will listen to them but he will also listen to the environmentalists and as importantly, if not more importantly,he will listen to the advice of the people at the agency who have been studying these issues and know these issues.”