Nothing inappropriate about EPA chief ’s meeting with cattlemen

“Drain the swamp? Pruitt polluting it,” Oct. 24 editorial.

In your editorial, you parrot ridiculous, partisan charges that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt acted improperly when he met with Colorado ranchers last summer. If you had bothered to call us for details about the meeting, perhaps your editorial wouldn’t have been so embarrassingly inaccurate. Here are the facts:

The Environmental Protection Agency approached the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association for possible venues near Denver where Pruitt could visit and engage with stakeholders in the ranching community. Before the visit, we requested — and were granted — an interview with Pruitt at the event. NCBA filmed, edited and published the video without any direction from the EPA.

This was a public official asking for input from citizens who would be affected by a regulation that his agency is considering. Somehow you consider that nefarious — we simply call it good, responsive governing.

Washington, D.C. The writer is senior vice president of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Send letters of 150 words or fewer to openforum@denverpost.com or 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 800, Denver, CO, 80202. Please include full name, city and phone number. Contact information is for our purposes only; we will not share it with anyone else. You can reach us by telephone at 303-954-1331.