"A rule designed by the Environmental Protection Agency [3] to keep groundwater clean near oil drilling sites and other construction zones was loosened ... after years of intense industry pressure, including court battles and behind-the-scenes agency lobbying," in addition to a letter from "a well-connected Texas oil executive" to White House advisor Karl Rove [4], reports the Los Angeles Times. The letter, from Republican activist and Rove hunting partner Ernest Angelo, complained that the stricter, EPA version of the rule was causing oil executives to "openly express doubt as to the merit of electing Republicans when we wind up with this type of stupidity." Rove forwarded the letter to White House environmental advisors, calling for "a response ASAP." The rule was then rewritten by the Office of Management and Budget [5]. "A top EPA official" wrote Angelo about the changes, copying Rove, then-EPA head Christine Todd Whitman [6] and White House environmental advisor James L. Connaughton [7].