By Associated Press - Wednesday, May 2, 2018

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Newly released emails show how Utah Republican Attorney General Sean Reyes joined other GOP attorneys general to sign a letter fighting a proposed environmental investigation despite opposition from his own state regulators.

Emails about the 2014 episode obtained by the Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy and provided to The Salt Lake Tribune offer a glimpse into Reyes’s decision-making.

The political arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association reached out to Reyes asking him to sign a letter related to whether hydraulic fracturing in Oklahoma was affecting the state’s water quality. It was led by then-Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who is now the Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

The state’s solicitor general called the effort “political, plain and simple.”

Reyes’ chief of staff Ric Cantrell disputed the notion that the emails show energy groups have influence over the office.

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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com

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