Environmental Protection Agency officials have from the beginning of President Obama's tenure in the Oval Office "pursued a path of obfuscation, operating in the shadows, and out of the sunlight," according to a Senate report.
The report by Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee provides a detailed description of violations of the Freedom of Information Act and other federal laws and regulations meant to encourage transparency and accountability in the government.
"The agency established an alias identity to hide the actions of the former administrator; has purposefully been unresponsive to FOIA request, oftentimes redacting information the public has a right to know; and mismanaged its electronic records system such that federal records have been jeopardized," the report said.
"Moreover, EPA’s leadership abandoned the historic model of a specialized public servant who seeks to fairly administer the law and has instead embraced a number of controversial tactics to advance a secretive agenda," the report said.
In addition to multiple abuses of the FOIA, the Senate report claims EPA officials have sought to cover up such activities when challenged by congressional oversight officials.
"As Congress has raised questions about EPA’s lack of transparency, the agency has steadfastly ignored its constitutional obligation to subject itself to congressional oversight, apparently in an effort to prevent the public from knowing what is going on behind closed doors," the report said.
The "alias identity" referred to by the report was the official government email account for "Richard Windsor" that was used by former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
Jackson is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the misuse of government email accounts by Jackson in conducting official business, as well as use of personal email accounts by her and other federal executives.
