Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in NCBA video

Scott Pruitt, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, didn't violate federal law when he appeared in a 2017 video urging ranchers to file public comments on a controversial rule change, the Government Accountability Office ruled Wednesday.

The video by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association featured Pruitt talking to ranchers about a proposed repeal of the Waters of the United States rule, which was implemented by the Obama administration to protect streams and wetlands. NCBA and other agriculture groups oppose the rule. The Trump administration has sought to delay the rule's implementation, but so far that effort has been blocked in court.

Environmentalists and Democrats complained about Pruitt's appearance in the NCBA video given the group was actively seeking to repeal the rule, which was the subject of the piece. Pruitt and administration officials countered no laws were broken because the former administrator only encouraged ranchers to publicly comment on the proposal. Four lawmakers—all Democrats—asked the GAO to investigate the matter.

GAO concluded that Pruitt's appearance in the video was legal because the video "did not constitute a communication that was self-aggrandizing, purely partisan, or covert." The agency also said EPA did not violate an existing government prohibition against grassroots lobbying because Pruitt "did not make a clear appeal to the public to contact members of Congress in support of, or in opposition to, pending legislation, nor did EPA adopt NCBA's materials as its own."

In a statement responding to the GAO's conclusions, NCBA blasted the investigation as a "sham" that wasted taxpayer dollars.

"Radical environmental activists and their allies in Congress first requested this sham investigation to distract from the real issue: their misguided support for the gravely flawed 2015 WOTUS rule. …From the beginning, we have known there was absolutely nothing wrong with the EPA administrator encouraging stakeholders to comment on a rule that impacts their livelihoods," said Colin Woodall, NCBA's senior vice president of government affairs.

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