UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

WASHINGTO N. O.C. 20460

lHE !.,_
'SPECTORGENERAi.
JUN1 3 2018

The HonorableDonald S. Beyer Jr.

House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

!)ear Representative Beyer:

In your May 24, 2018, letter to the Officeof Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency(EPA), you and several of your congressional colleagues asked me to answer
questions about EPA AdministratorScott Pruitt's "legal defense fund." Administrator Pruitt discussed
the fund during his May 16, 2018, testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommitteeon the
Interior, Environment and Related Agencies. Your letter noted that "Administrator Pruitt or the EPA
may be inclined to direct issues about his legal defense fund to his attorneys," but Congress has a duty
"to exercise oversight in this area." For that reason, you addressed your inquiry to me.

Some of the questions that you asked involve AdmirustratorPruin's personal actions in establishinga
legal defensefund for himselfandare notactionsrelated to his official government capacity,or about
EPA activities or funds. Other aspects of your questions address Administrator Pruin's and other EPA
employees' agency roles and actions. Your questions are primarily, if not fully, ethics questions that
should be addressed to £PA ethics officials or to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE), or
both. As a result, I respcctfuUyreque~~that you direct the questions in your May 24, 20 18, lener to one
or both oflbe aforementioned entities. Following a determination, a declination to consider, or a referral
10 the OIG of some aspect of your inquiry, by either entity, we will decide if any further OIG action is
warranted.

Thank you for your interest in the work oftbe OIG. Similar letters are being sent to Representatives
Nadler, Connolly, Lieu and Raskin. if you have any questions about this or any other ma11er,please
contact Alan Larsen, Counsel to the Inspector General, at (202) 566-2391.

7lley1_;__
Arthur A. Elkins Jr.