UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON , D.C. 20460

APR 2 5 2018

THE INSPECTOR GENERAL

The Honorable Ted W. Lieu
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Congressman Lieu:
The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has the statutory role of ensuring that the ethics laws and
regulations of the United States are adhered to throughout the Executive Branch. In carrying out those
responsibilities, on April 6, 2018, the acting Director of OGE wrote to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency' s (EPA' s) Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) because "reported actions of
Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) .. . raise concern and may
constitute a violation of the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch .... "
Specifically, the OGE letter identified actions involving (1) housing arrangements by the Administrator,
(2) expenses for his travel, (3) use of staff and expenditures for security measures, (4) approvals of
hiring and salaries for certain employees, (5) use of the Administrator' s subordinates' time, and
(6) reassignment or demotion of staff who were attempting to ensure that expenses and other actions
were in accordance with the law.
In the letter, OGE charged the EPA with needing to "take action to appropriately address any
violations." In turn, on that same day-April 6, 2018-the EPA' s DAEO referred the OGE letter and
request to the EPA OIG for action as the OIG deems appropriate. In short, OGE' s concerns and request
to EPA are now before the OIG.
We have received multiple requests from multiple members of Congress, as well as other OIG Hotline
complaints, regarding these same and related issues. After considering the OGE request, the DAEO ' s
referral to the OIG, your request as well as other congressional requests, and the other Hotline
complaints, the OIG has concluded that it will review the matters enumerated above. The matters
include issues you have raised to the OIG in your letter of April 3, 2018.
Some of these matters will be reviewed as part of previously announced and still ongoing OIG reviews.
Some will be the impetus for new reviews. We will release results of each of these separate reviews as
we complete them, and will inform you and your staff when we do so.
For your awareness, the OIG has issued the following project notification memorandums and
management alert reports related to reported actions of the current Administrator:

Notification Memorandums:
• Audit of EPA 's Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training 's Law Enforcement
Availability Pay Reporting (Project No. OA-FYl 8-0075, issued November 30, 2017)

 •
•

Audit ofAdministratively Determined Positions (Project No. OA-FYl 8-0085, issued January 8,
2018)
Audit of EPA 's Adherence to Policies, Procedures and Oversight Controls Pertaining to the
Administrator's Travel (third notification) (Project No. OA-FYl 7-0382, issued January 10, 2018)

Management Alert Reports:
• Controls Failed to Prevent Employee From Receiving Payment in Excess of Statutory Limit
(Report No. 17-P-0410, issued September 27, 2017)
• Salary Increases for Certain Administratively Determined Positions (Report No. 18-N-0154,
issued April 16, 2018)
Thank you for your continued interest in the work of the OIG. If you have any questions about this or
any other matter, please contact Alan Larsen, Counsel to the Inspector General, at (202) 566-2391.

s~c~'Arthur A. Elkins Jr.

cc: The Honorable Scott Pruitt, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency