Report Shows EPA Violated Law

EPA officials broke the law when they created a social media campaign to generate support for the controversial Clean Water Act rule, which redefines waters of the U.S., the Government Accountability Office said in a report Monday.

According to the GAO report, EPA used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and other social media from February 2014 to July 2015 to generate a positive campaign about the waters of the U.S. rule.

EPA officials used a "crowdspeaking platform" called Thunderclap to distribute specific messages to a broad array of people at one time. EPA used Thunderclap multiple times, which included a campaign message "I Choose Clean Water."

GAO said EPA engaged in covert propaganda by failing to disclose its role in the Thunderclaps.

The messages included links to EPA blogs explaining the agency's position on the Clean Water Act rule and asking people to lend their support.

Yet, EPA did not identify the agency as the author of the message. The GAO stated, “The critical element of covert propaganda is the agency's concealment from the target audience of its role in creating the material."

EPA also violated grassroots lobbying laws by linking the agency's website to the website of lobby groups that supported EPA's position. S