Infamous Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is accusing the Obama administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of “potentially illegal” activity. Inhofe questioned Obama administration members about “whether they broke the law by coordinating events to promote the president’s climate change agenda,” The Hill reports.
In a letter to administration officials, Inhofe said, “The Obama administration’s apparent coordination with the campaign arm and the White House leave me no choice but to investigate.”
On Wednesday, Inhofe sent a letter to the Administrator for the EPA’s Region 1, Curt Spalding, asking him to disclose records between the EPA, Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and the Organization for Action (OFA). Inhofe accused the OFA of being involved with EPA and CEQ events to promote President Obama’s new climate change initiative.
“The OFA activities are clearly political in nature, solely targeting Republican members of the House and Senate for campaign purposes,” Inhofe wrote. “Clearly OFA is now engaging in political activities and it appears as though they are closely coordinating efforts with EPA and CEQ, negating their independence.”
Since Obama’s announcement of his National Climate Action Plan, including his directive to impose the first-ever standards on carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants, climate change has been the focus of rallies to push the new plan forward.
Inhofe, an adamant climate change denier and member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, has said that he believes climate change is a hoax “pushed by people like Al Gore, the United Nations, and the Hollywood elite.”
“There seems to be a coincidental coordination between the White House, the president’s campaign, and the liberal media that is weaving a false and potentially harmful narrative of alarmism,” Inhofe wrote. “This agenda will leave our nation less secure, less prosperous and less informed.”
In July, before Obama announced his climate proposals, Senate Republicans, including Senator Inhofe, said that the Obama administration was trying to hide a secret agenda within its climate action plan. Inhofe and fellow senators sent a letter to EPW Chairwoman, Barbara Boxer (D-CA), requesting that administration officials be questioned as part of an EPW hearing on climate change.
Chairwoman Boxer asked that the first hearing focus solely on science and not politics, but said the committee would include government witnesses in the next hearing. Republicans, however, accused the president of trying to keep the American people “in the dark” about his climate change proposals.
“The actions this administration is taking under the guise of controlling our climate… have the potential to negatively impact employment, job creation, and our national debt,” Senate Republicans wrote.
The letter, signed by Senator Inhofe, called for the Obama administration to “be ready to defend those actions before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.”
Alisha is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow her on Twitter @childoftheearth.
