Today, U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), regarding the semiannual report to Congress from the EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG). The report reveals several instances in which EPA employees did not cooperate with the IG.

"The more we learn about President Obama's EPA, the more we learn that EPA leadership and employees are unwilling to meet even the most basic of oversight responsibilities," said Vitter. "Transparency is crucial to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse within the Agency, yet Administrator McCarthy chose to abandon precedent, leading EPA employees to mistakenly believe that noncooperation with the IG is acceptable."

Issa said, "EPA's pattern of refusing to cooperate with the agency's own independent watchdog reveals a disturbing lack of transparency throughout the agency. EPA is not above the law. Administrator McCarthy and EPA management's failure to encourage compliance with lawful oversight by the Inspector General is simply unacceptable."

In the letter, Vitter and Issa request that McCarthy issue an "all-hands memorandum" to reinforce the Agency's policy on employee cooperation with the OIG, and also report the remedial actions taken against employees who refused to cooperate with the OIG.

Vitter and Issa have been conducting oversight of the EPA, focusing on waste, fraud, and transparency issues. Click here to read more.

Click here to read today's letter.

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