EPA chief took private plane in Colo.
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt took a private plane from Denver to Durango and back last month during a trip to meet with Colorado’s top politicians at the Gold King Mine, despite Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office offering him a ride on the state’s plane.
In a written statement Wednesday to The Denver Post, the EPA said Pruitt took the chartered flight to avoid missing the meeting after his initial flight was delayed significantly.
“After our commercial flight was significantly delayed (over 5 hours), it would have been impossible to make it to the important Gold King Mine visit with a bipartisan group of elected officials waiting for (Pruitt),” the EPA said in its statement. “Due to the short amount of time we had to make a decision and while the Governor’s office was working on logistics, we were able to find a charter plane which was cleared by the EPA’s ethics counsel.”
Hickenlooper’s office declined to comment at length, but the governor’s spokeswoman, Jacque Montgomery, said “I can confirm staff offered him a ride and they declined.”
CBS News first reported on Pruitt’s Colorado travels Tuesday night.
Pruitt and Hickenlooper visited the Gold King on Aug. 4, along with U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet of Colorado and others. It was on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the EPA-triggered 3 million-gallon wastewater spill at the site.
Members of the media were not allowed to join the Gold King visit.
The EPA also did not immediately say how much it cost to fly Pruitt and his staffers from Durango to Denver and back on a private plane. The Washington Post reported, however, that the flight — taken on a plane from Mayo Aviation — cost $5,719.58.
Pruitt is also being scrutinized by the EPA’s inspector general for his travels home to Oklahoma on the taxpayer’s dime. The Washington Post also reported that the EPA is spending nearly $25,000 to build a secure, soundproof communications booth in Pruitt’s office — which no prior EPA administrator has had.