Three Democratic senators are requesting an ethics investigation into an Environmental Protection Agency official's contacts with her former employer, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

In a joint letter sent Thursday to the agency's Office of Inspector General, the senators allege that EPA Associate Administrator Elizabeth Bennett met with NRECA about media strategy concerning an event with former Administrator Scott Pruitt. They also said she facilitated a meeting about an ongoing EPA enforcement matter affecting an electric utility represented by the association. The senators then accused the agency of trying to conceal details of the contacts from the public.

Before joining EPA, Bennett was senior principal of legislative affairs at NRECA. The senators said Bennett's contact with NRECA appears to violate Office of Government Ethics' impartiality rule given her past employment at the association.

"An OIG investigation is accordingly warranted," they said. "No other federal agency or component of EPA will be able to fully ascertain whether, and if so the degree to which, ethics violations have occurred."

Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) requested the investigation. http://bit.ly/30AxEky

An EPA spokesman told The Hill newspaper that the agency had not received the senators' letter and would respond "through proper channels" once it did. http://bit.ly/2JokMbL

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