Top Pruitt Ally Resigns From EPA as Ethical Questions Mount

• April 05 2018
• Jennifer A Dlouhy, Jennifer Jacobs

A longtime ally of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned, amid mounting ethical questions surrounding the agency chief, said a person familiar with the decision.

A longtime ally of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned, amid mounting ethical questions surrounding the agency chief, said a person familiar with the decision.

Samantha Dravis left her role as an associate administrator of the EPA Office of Policy as Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general, faces scrutiny for his unorthodox rental of a bedroom from a lobbyist last year and boosting the salaries of two aides over the objections of the White House. The person describing Dravis’ resignation asked for anonymity to discuss a private personnel matter.

Dravis came to the EPA after serving with Pruitt as general counsel of the Republican Attorneys General Association. At the EPA, she helped revive a program for seeking regulatory advice from miners, oil companies and manufacturers.

The EPA administrator is under fire for renting a bedroom in a Capitol Hill condo from a lobbyist under unusually agreeable terms that permitted him to pay $50 only on the days he stayed there. And Pruitt has drawn fresh scrutiny for reports that he used an obscure law to grant raises to two close advisers, even after the White House objected to boosting their salaries.

Pruitt told Fox News on Wednesday that he didn’t know about the raises until Tuesday. “I corrected the action and we are in the process of finding out how it took place and correcting it,” he said.