Coal exec who raised $1M for Trump got meeting with EPA chief: report

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt met last year with a coal executive who has claimed that he raised more than $1 million for President Trump’s campaign, according to the agency chief’s schedules.
Politico reported Friday that Pruitt met with White Stallion Energy CEO Steven Chancellor for a “courtesy call and introductory meeting.”
{mosads}Chancellor hosted a $10,000 per couple fundraiser for Trump in Evansville, Ind., in 2016, which he claims raised “north of a million” dollars, according to the Courier & Press newspaper.
He also attended Trump’s inauguration, Politico reported.
Pruitt’s schedules were obtained by the Sierra Club, an environmental group, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Chancellor previously petitioned the EPA in 2016 to reconsider an update to a rule designed to constrain air pollution moving across state lines. According to Politico, the EPA still has not responded to that petition, and it’s unclear if Pruitt and Chancellor discussed the matter in their meeting.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s schedule shows he had a scheduled meeting with White Stallion the same day as Pruitt, but it wasn’t clear if Chancellor personally attended that meeting, as well, Politico reported.
Trump himself has faced criticism for meetings with donors, like billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. He has also come under fire from ethics experts, who have raised concerns about his failure to divest from his business empire.
Politico reported Wednesday that an oil group, the American Petroleum Institute, was holding a board meeting at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel before its executive committee was set to visit the White House to raise concerns about Trump’s new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
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