Scott Pruitt’s Landlord Was the Wife of Fossil Fuel Lobbyist

The case for firing the EPA administrator keeps getting stronger.

Reports broke this weekend that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt got a suspiciously good deal on a D.C. condo in 2017, which was owned by the wife of a top fossil fuel lobbyist. This is just the latest in a string of high-profile ethics scandals orbiting Pruitt.

“A $43,000 phone booth? Luxury travel and military jets? A sweetheart condo deal cooked up with the wife of a fossil fuel lobbyist?” says NRDC president Rhea Suh. “We need a congressional investigation to tell us whether Scott Pruitt is breaking ethical laws, lacks judgment, or simply feels entitled to waste taxpayer money and share a bed with the very industries he’s paid to regulate.”

Pruitt was paying just $50 per night and only paid the nights he was staying—a deal few other landlords would take. Reports also show that Pruitt had worked with the lobbyist’s energy company clients in various lawsuits meant to roll back environmental protections.

“Pruitt has taken the environment out of the Environmental Protection Agency and the public out of public service,” Suh says. “It’s time to take him out of office. It’s time to fire Scott Pruitt.”