Tempers have cooled in the dispute between EPA and its internal watchdog over Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson. Charles Sheehan, then the acting EPA inspector general, updated lawmakers in a letter obtained by E&E News on "the particularly serious or flagrant problem" with Jackson's lack of cooperation with various investigations by the IG's office that triggered a rare "Seven Day Letter" warning agency leadership. "I write now to provide you with information about how the two refusals prompting the Seven-Day Letter were resolved," Sheehan said in the Jan. 16 letter to House and Senate committee leaders. Jackson declined to sit for an interview with the inspector general's agents as part of an investigation. Yet after the Seven Day Letter, sent in late October last year, the chief of staff "reengaged" with the watchdog office, Sheehan said. After a month of discussions to set conditions, Jackson did sit for the interview on Dec. 18 last year. "We have no need for an additional interview and now consider the COS's cooperation with regard to the investigation to be complete — although far from fulfilling the IG Act's requirement of 'timely' cooperation," Sheehan said.
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