Blurred lines: Trump's UN choice and her coal magnate spouse

WASHINGTON (AP) — The email went out from senior Environmental Protection Agency officials to Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, responding to questions she had about a funding matter.

But the acknowledgment email the EPA got back a few hours later wasn't from the ambassador. It was from her husband, coal magnate Joseph Craft, a wealthy GOP donor who had simultaneously been taking part in a months-long press by the coal industry for access and regulatory relief from the EPA and the Trump administration in general.

The blurring of roles — and email accounts — by the Crafts this time and others since she began representing the U.S. is raising questions as senators consider her nomination by President Donald Trump. The U.N. post would give her a prime seat at international talks to fight climate change, in part by encouraging limits on the burning of coal, with its heat-trapping emissions.

"Thanks!!" the coal baron replied to the December 2017 email from EPA officials, which had been addressed to "Ambassador Craft." The agency was following up on a briefing she had gotten from then-EPA head Scott Pruitt on federal funding for cleaning up the Great Lakes, an issue of great interest to Canada.

Joseph Craft sent the acknowledgment on his work email for his Tulsa, Oklahoma-based coal company, Alliance Resource Partners LP.

His response ended with the breezy auto-tag from his cellphone: "Sent from my iPhone powered by coal!"

In a statement on Monday, the State Department said Joseph Craft had been copied in on the EPA response to his ambassador wife after her Great Lakes discussion with Pruitt because he "had played a role in facilitating the exchange." The statement did not elaborate, or say why his help was needed arranging a discussion between two government officials. "However, he does not play a role in...