Despite denial, EPA’s Pruitt used private email

WASHINGTON—Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt occasionally used private email to communicate with staff while serving as Oklahoma’s attorney general, despite telling Congress that he always used a state email account for government business.

A review of Pruitt emails obtained through a public records request showed a 2014 exchange where he emailed a member of his staff using a personal Apple email account.

Emails released under court order last week yielded examples where emails were addressed to Pruitt’s private account, including a 2013 exchange with a petroleum industry lobbyist who emailed Pruitt and a lawyer on the attorney general’s staff.

It is not illegal in Oklahoma for public officials to use private email as long as they are retained and made available as public records.