Washington ( CNN ) One day after focusing on lost e-mails at the IRS , the House Oversight Committee learned Wednesday that the Environmental Protection Agency is also having trouble recovering e-mails the committee wants as part of a separate investigation . McCarthy : `` There is a challenge '' EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told the Republican-led committee that the agency can not access some e-mails belonging to a biologist who worked on a controversial mining project assessment . It is a hard drive problem , but McCarthy was careful to not call it a `` hard drive crash '' or destroyed hard drive . `` I do n't believe this is a missing hard drive issue , '' McCarthy told the panel , `` There is a challenge getting access to the data on it ... I 'm still hoping we recover all those e-mails . '' `` I heard similar testimony yesterday , '' replied Rep. Mark Meadows , R-North Carolina , dryly referring to the committee 's Tuesday hearing about a critical crashed hard drive at the IRS . Investigation into mine report . With the EPA , the committee is investigating whether the biologist involved , or anyone else at the agency , colluded with environmentalists to produce a negative assessment of a mining proposal in Alaska . A separate investigation by the agency 's inspector general is also underway . The environmental assessment concluded that the Pebble Mine project could significantly harm the sockeye salmon fishery in Bristol Bay . As a result , in February , the agency essentially froze the permitting process for the mine as it reviews options for the area . McCarthy insisted the agency is trying to recover the biologists ' missing e-mails , but also tried to downplay his role in the mine assessment . `` He 's not a decison maker in this process , '' she said . `` He inputed into the science assessment that 's been fully peer-reviewed . We have not made any decision on Bristol Bay , we 've just taken a first step . '' `` But he could have colluded ... '' fired back Meadows . `` Which is why it 's important the ( inspector general ) finish his report , '' McCarthy replied . Did the EPA break the law ? Meadows pressed McCarthy on whether the agency broke federal records-keeping law . `` Were all his emails preserved according to the Federal Records Act or was a law violated ? '' McCarthy answered that the EPA notified the National Archives and Records Administration about the hard drive problem Tuesday . `` I think we have notified the appropriate authorities that we may have some e-mails that we can not produce that we should have kept . '' Issa ( re ) threatens contempt charge . During the same hearing , Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa , R-California , also demanded that the agency turn over documents that the committee subpoenaed last year . `` You have not complied with the subpoena , '' he told McCarthy . `` I am telling you , the time to comply is now . If it is not complied with ... this committee will consider and vote on contempt . '' Issa has made this threat to McCarthy before , but indicated Wednesday that he expects a response within days or he is ready to act on the contempt charge . By the end of the hearing , McCarthy and Issa agreed to let their staffs work behind the scenes . `` I hope that over the next few days our folks and your folks can resolve this with all the e-mails , '' Issa concluded . E-mails : Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner queried Sen. Chuck Grassley invitation . Top IRS official beats back Republican barrage .
EPA head tells House Speaker that the agency is having trouble delivering lost emails . ` ` I heard similar testimony yesterday , '' congressman says , referring to IRS ' lost emails . EPA 's lost emails are of alleged collusion , involving agency and environmentalists . Committee head threatens contempt charge if requested documents not delivered .