Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is now the subject of 12 federal investigations, after the EPA inspector general's office said it's looking into Pruitt's use of private email accounts. Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Jeff Merkeley (D-Ore.) had requested that the inspector general look into whether the EPA was preserving Pruitt's communications, as required by law, and searching his nonpublic accounts when conducting Freedom of Information Act requests. Carper and Berkeley sit on the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, and its chairman, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), has also raised concerns about Pruitt's private email use.
In a letter released Tuesday by Carper and Merkeley, EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins said that "the issues raised in your letter are within the authority of the OIG to review, and we will do so," but added that due to financial and personnel constraints, his office can't start the investigation right away. "The fact is that the OIG has been funded at less than the levels we deem adequate to do all of the work that should be done," he wrote. Plus, he did not mention, investigating Pruitt's behavior seems to be an unexpectedly resource-intensive undertaking.