{"id":22075,"date":"2014-12-08T10:27:20","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T16:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=22075"},"modified":"2014-12-08T10:29:57","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T16:29:57","slug":"ny-times-oklahomas-scott-pruitt-a-leader-in-secretive-alliance-between-attorneys-general-and-energy-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/12\/08\/ny-times-oklahomas-scott-pruitt-a-leader-in-secretive-alliance-between-attorneys-general-and-energy-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Times: Oklahoma&#8217;s Scott Pruitt a Leader in &#8216;Secretive Alliance&#8217; Between Attorneys General and Energy Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_16645\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt prepares to greet Gov. Mary Fallin at the 2013 State of the State address at the state capitol.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2013\/10\/pruitt-sots.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16645\" alt=\"Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt prepares to greet Gov. Mary Fallin at the 2013 State of the State address at the state capitol.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2013\/10\/pruitt-sots.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2013\/10\/pruitt-sots.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2013\/10\/pruitt-sots-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2013\/10\/pruitt-sots-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2013\/10\/pruitt-sots-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt prepares to greet Gov. Mary Fallin at the 2013 State of the State address at the state capitol.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Attorneys general in at least a dozen states have formed an &#8216;unprecedented, secretive alliance&#8217; with the energy industry to fight federal environmental regulations, <em>The New York Times<\/em> Eric Lipton <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/12\/07\/us\/politics\/energy-firms-in-secretive-alliance-with-attorneys-general.html\">reports<\/a>. <!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignright\">\n<h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4>\n<div class=\"links\">\n<h5>Posts<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/10\/03\/an-insiders-guide-to-oklahoma-attorney-general-scott-pruitts-war-with-the-epa\/\">An Insider&#8217;s Guide to Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt&#8217;s War With the EPA<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/06\/12\/court-losses-wont-deter-attorney-general-scott-pruitt-in-his-fight-with-the-epa\/\">Court Losses Won&#8217;t Deter Attorney General Scott Pruitt In His Fight With The EPA<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"topics\">\n<h5>Topics<\/h5>\n<p class=\"topic\"><a href=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><p>Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has emerged as a leader of this effort, the <em>Times<\/em> reports, both through his role as president of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.republicanags.com\/news\">Republican Attorneys General Association<\/a> and with his close ties to the energy industry.<\/p><p>In his <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/06\/12\/court-losses-wont-deter-attorney-general-scott-pruitt-in-his-fight-with-the-epa\/\">war against federal government overreach<\/a>, Pruitt has signed his name on letters to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2014\/12\/07\/us\/politics\/oklahoma-attorney-general-letter-written-almost-entirely-by-energy-company.html\">drafted by lawyers for Devon Energy<\/a>, and joined a &#8220;group aligned&#8221; with Continental Resources billionaire CEO Harold Hamm &#8220;to sue the Interior Department over its plan to consider adding animals such as the lesser prairie chicken to the endangered species list.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For Mr. Pruitt, the benefits have been clear. Lobbyists and company officials have been notably solicitous, helping him raise his profile as president for two years of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a post he used to help start what he and allies called the Rule of Law campaign, which was intended to push back against Washington.<\/p><p>That campaign, in which attorneys general band together to operate like a large national law firm, has been used to back lawsuits and other challenges against the Obama administration on environmental issues, the Affordable Care Act and securities regulation. The most recent target is the president\u2019s executive action on immigration.<\/p><p>\u201cWe are living in the midst of a constitutional crisis,\u201d Mr. Pruitt told energy industry lobbyists and conservative state legislators at a conference in Dallas in July, after being welcomed with a standing ovation. \u201cThe trajectory of our nation is at risk and at stake as we respond to what is going on.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><p>For his part, Pruitt told the <em>Times<\/em> his close relationship with the energy industry stems from his desire &#8220;to gather information from experts, while defending his state\u2019s longstanding tradition of self-determination.&#8221;<\/p><p>Pruitt&#8217;s role in the Rule of Law campaign and the Republican Attorney Generals Association was born out of a desire for the AG&#8217;s to &#8220;band together&#8221; like they did in challenging the Affordable Care Act, the<em> Times<\/em> reports. One of Pruitt&#8217;s big promoters was Andrew P. Miller, a former Virginia attorney general who now represents energy, mining and utility companies.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Mr. Miller\u2019s pitch to Mr. Pruitt became a reality early last year at the historic Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City, where he brought together an extraordinary assembly of energy industry power brokers and attorneys general from nine states for what he called the Summit on Federalism and the Future of Fossil Fuels.<\/p><p>The meeting took place in the shadow of office towers that dominate Oklahoma City\u2019s skyline and are home to Continental Resources, a leader in the nation\u2019s fastest-growing oil field, the Bakken formation of North Dakota, as well as Devon Energy, which drilled 1,275 new wells last year.<\/p><p>More liberal attorneys general, such as Douglas F. Gansler, Democrat of Maryland, did not participate.<\/p><p>\u201cIndeed, General Gansler would in all likelihood try to hijack your summit,\u201d Mr. Miller wrote to Mr. Pruitt in an email. \u201cAt best you would be left to preside over a debate, rather than a call to arms.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Attorneys general in at least a dozen states have formed an &#8216;unprecedented, secretive alliance&#8217; with the energy industry to fight federal environmental regulations, The New York Times Eric Lipton reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":16645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[554,499],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22075"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22088,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22075\/revisions\/22088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}