DVN Devon Energy Corp

By Amy Harder and Erin Ailworth 

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of newly released emails showing close contact between Scott Pruitt, the new chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, and oil and natural-gas companies are casting clouds over Mr. Pruitt's newly minted leadership of the agency tasked with protecting the nation's air and water.

The emails, which cover a period when Mr. Pruitt was attorney general of Oklahoma, were released earlier this week after an order from a state judge. They detail Mr. Pruitt's correspondence with several oil companies that have big operations in Oklahoma, including Devon Energy Corp.

The emails could bolster the concerns of congressional Democrats and other critics, who say Mr. Pruitt has potential conflicts of interest since he will be running an agency whose job is to regulate companies he was close to in his prior position. The EPA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"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," said Christine Todd Whitman, a former EPA administrator under George W. Bush, in an interview on MSNBC on Thursday.

"So that, in and of itself, isn't unusual," Ms. Whitman added. "What he's got to do is make very clear, first of all, his understanding that he's now in a totally different position."

As Oklahoma attorney general, Mr. Pruitt was part of a coalition of about two dozen mostly Republican state attorneys general who sued the federal government over an array of regulations during Mr. Obama's presidency, targeting numerous environmental rules. Mr. Pruitt often joined lawsuits with energy companies that also contributed to his campaigns for the attorney general post.

The Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive group that filed the lawsuit seeking the emails' release, said it would keep pushing to release more emails. "The newly released emails reveal a close and friendly relationship between Scott Pruitt's office and the fossil-fuel industry, with frequent meetings, calls, dinners and other events," said Nick Surgey, research director at the group.

The emails reveal that Mr. Pruitt's office worked closely at times with Devon Energy, an oil-and-gas producer based in Oklahoma, and other energy companies, as they worked to influence proposed federal regulations affecting the industry.

The close alliance between Mr. Pruitt and Devon, along with other fossil-fuel companies, was first reported by the New York Times in 2014.

There was much back-and-forth, for instance, over a letter that Devon helped draft and that Mr. Pruitt's office ultimately used to make a case against a methane emission rule in 2013.

In another instance that year, Devon provided Mr. Pruitt's office with its thoughts on a proposed draft rule from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that one Devon executive characterized as "sweeping unnecessary federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing operations on federal and Indian lands."

Devon defended its interactions with Mr. Pruitt's office, saying it has a "clear obligation to our shareholders" to be involved in such discussions and sometimes serves a resource for decision makers.

"Our engagement with Scott Pruitt as Attorney General of Oklahoma is consistent -- and proportionate -- with our commitment to engage in conversations with policymakers on a broad range of matters that promote jobs, economic growth and a robust domestic energy sector," the company said in a statement.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2017 19:53 ET (00:53 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.