|
Congress demands EPA's secret email accounts
[Washington Times] A House committee has launched an investigation into whether EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used an email alias to try to hide correspondence from open-government requests and her agency's own internal watchdog -- something that Republican politicians said could run afoul of the law.The science committee has asked Ms. Jackson to turn over all information related to an email account under the name of "Richard Windsor," which is one of the aliases identified by a researcher looking into the EPA. The committee has also asked the White House's lawyer and EPA's inspector general to look into the matter and report back by the end of this month, saying that the secret email accounts could have been used to keep key information from official watchdogs as well as the public. EPA did not respond Friday night to a request for comment. The researcher who uncovered the "Richard Windsor" alias email, Christopher Horner, has repeatedly battled the administration over its global warming efforts. Earlier this year he his colleagues at the Competitive Enterprise Institute sued to demand the release of emails from "secondary" accounts from EPA, and cited a memo saying the practice began during the Clinton administration under then-administrator Carol Browner. Mr. Horner uncovered the existence of the secret emails while researching a book, "The Liberal War on Transparency," published last month. Mr. Horner said after the book came out, two former EPA officials told him about the "Richard Windsor" email and said it was "one of the alternate email addresses she used." He said he has also discovered some EPA employees setting up private gmail accounts using their first and last names and the word EPA as a standard formula. Posted by: Fred 2012-11-20 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=356401 |