EPA chief met with lobbyist tied to condo
New disclosure report shows pair met to discuss Chesapeake Bay
WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt met in his office last year with a veteran Washington lobbyist tied to the bargain priced condo where Pruitt was living.
Both Pruitt and lobbyist Steven Hart had previously denied that Hart had conducted any recent business with EPA.
A spokesman for Hart confirmed Saturday that the lobbyist met with Pruitt at EPA headquarters in July 2017 to discuss efforts to preserve the Chesapeake Bay.
The admission about the meeting came after the lobbying firm Williams & Jensen filed a new disclosure report late Friday, hours after Hart announced his early retirement as chairman. The firm’s filing, first reported by The Hill, says Hart lobbied EPA during the first quarter of 2018 on behalf of Smithfield Foods.
The world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield has been involved with efforts to clean up the bay since EPA fined the company $12.6 million in 1997 for illegally dumping hog waste into a tributary.
EPA’s press office did not respond to questions about Pruitt’s meeting with Hart.
Pruitt’s connections to the prominent lobbyist have been under intense scrutiny since last month, when media reports first revealed that the EPA chief had rented a luxury Capitol Hill condo from a corporation coowned by Hart’s wife for just $50 a night. Pruitt’s daughter, then a White House summer intern, also stayed at the condo.
On Pruitt’s 2017 condo lease, a copy of which was reviewed by AP, Steven Hart’s name was originally typed in as “landlord” but was scratched out. The name of his wife, health care lobbyist Vicki Hart, was scribbled in.
Pruitt’s public calendar shows he met at EPA headquarters on July 11 with the Smithfield Foundation, the pork producer’s philanthropic arm. The calendar entry does not include a list of attendees.
Pruitt’s calendar does not disclose any 2018 meetings with Smithfield or its affiliates, the period covered by the report filed by Williams & Jensen.
Hart’s spokesman, Ryan Williams, confirmed on Saturday that the lobbyist had met with Pruitt at EPA in July. In a statement, Hart disputed the legal filing made by his former firm.
“I assisted a friend who served on the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and this is inaccurately being tied to Smithfield Foods,” Hart said. “I was not paid for this assistance and any suggestion that I lobbied for Smithfield Foods is inaccurate.”
Lobbying disclosures show Williams & Jensen has represented Smithfield for more than a decade.