WASHINGTON -- Sen. David Vitter, R-La, is again raising questions about former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's use of personal emails, suggesting they were used to thwart efforts for information under the Freedom of Information Act. In a letter Thursday, Vitter and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., ask Jackson, now vice president for environmental initiatives at Apple Inc., in California, for...
WASHINGTON -- Sen. David Vitter, R-La, is again raising questions about former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's use of personal emails, suggesting they were used to thwart efforts for information under the Freedom of Information Act.
In a letter Thursday, Vitter and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., ask Jackson, now vice president for environmental initiatives at Apple Inc., in California, for "all emails sent or received from any private email account" from January, 23, 2009 to Feb. 19 2013 that refer or relate to her duties as an EPA official.
Triggering the latest letter is the release this week of a 2009 Jackson email that asks Alison Taylor, vice president at Siemens Corp., to contact her at her private email account. Taylor had asked Jackson to meet with Siemen's global sustainability officer "who is my boss."
Jackson agreed to the meeting, but also sent a second email that asks: "PS can you use my home email rather than this one when you need to contact me directly. Tx. Lisa."
That's her personal "Richard Windsor" email account, named for her dog and a town in which she previously resided.
In their letter to Jackson, Vitter, top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Issa, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said:
"As the EPA Administrator, we expect you would have knowledge of EPA's policy that explicitly prohibits use of non-EPA.gov e-mail for business purposes. We are concerned that your use of a non-official e-mail account was a deliberate attempt to circumvent federal transparency laws and congressional oversight."
Jackson's Apple office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The EPA has previously defended the use of personal emails, citing the huge volume of messages sent to agency officials, particularly the administrator. Several previous EPA administrators in both Democratic and Republican administrations said that they used personal email accounts at times.
In a statement this week, EPA said it is awaiting review of its email practices by the agency's inspector general.
"The Environmental Protection Agency is committed to the appropriate regulations and laws for both federal records management and email use," the agency statement said. "EPA continues to work with the Inspector General in its view of EPA's email practices and policies and is prepared to give full consideration to any recommendations for improvements identified in that review."
The email between Jackson and the Siemens' official was obtained by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a group that opposes what it says is overregulation by the EPA.