Scott Pruitt Is Doing Just Fine as a Coal Consultant
“Where’s Scott Pruitt now?” is a question I’ve gotten a lot in the six months since the former Environmental Protection Agency administrator resigned under a mountain of investigations into possible ethics violations.
If you know anything about Pruitt, the answer will not come as a huge surprise: He’s pitching himself as a kind of unique messenger for advancing the industry interests that, until very recently, he was responsible for regulating. The man who found his bigger political ambitions derailed by a penchant for first-class flights, an extensive security detail, hotel hand lotion, and Trump mattresses, has turned over a new leaf as a private sector consultant. He is consulting for coal baron, Trump donor, and longtime friend Joseph Craft, while sidelining as an energy consultant and a paid speaker, as he shuttles back and forth between Washington and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he has lived for years.
In an interview with the Washington Post for a profile of Pruitt’s post-EPA life, his lawyer Cleta Mitchell maintained that Pruitt is steering clear of EPA business, sticking to a five-year ban on lobbying the agency. “He has discussed multiple opportunities with me and has been quite careful not to do anything that is even close to the line—and to ensure he is in full compliance with both the letter and the spirit of the law,” she said.
But he is meeting with interests that lobby the EPA on a regular basis. Pruitt reportedly met with the National Association of Manufacturers in October, though NAM said he is not retained in an official capacity. NAM has lobbied for a number of the rollbacks of environmental regulations, including on the Clean Power Plan, that first started under Pruitt and have continued under his successor, former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler.
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/12/scott-pruitt-is-doing-just-fine-as-a-coal-consultant/