WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- The Environmental Protection Agency advised employees last month not to answer questions from journalists , the Government Accountability Office or the agency 's inspector general , according to an EPA e-mail made public Monday . California Sen. Barbara Boxer has said the EPA is becoming a `` secretive , dangerous ally of polluters . '' `` Please do not respond to questions or make any statements , '' the June 16 e-mail said , advising staff to direct questioners to senior staff members cleared to answer questions from outside the agency . Robbi Farrell , chief of staff of the EPA 's compliance assurance division , sent the e-mail to 11 managers in the department . The e-mail was posted on a Web site of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility . The group , an alliance of state and federal environmental professionals , labeled the communication a `` gag order . '' `` The order reinforces a growing bunker mentality within an EPA that is the subject of a growing number of probes into political interference with agency operations , '' the group said . EPA press director Roxanne Smith rejected that characterization , saying the e-mail was about efficiency , not secrecy . The memo was a response to a May 2007 audit by the Inspector General 's Office that found the EPA did not respond earlier to IG reports on problems with water enforcement and other issues , The Associated Press reported . The audit , however , did not make any recommendations governing communication between staff and the Inspector General 's Office . `` A senior staffer in the enforcement office sent out an e-mail to simply help her office efficiently respond to requests from the press , GAO and EPA 's inspector general , '' Smith told CNN . `` There is nothing in the procedure that restricts conversation between enforcement staff , the press , GAO and the IG , '' she said , adding it is `` consistent with existing agency polices . '' Smith is one of the people to whom recipients of the memo were told to direct journalists ' questions . In a written statement , the EPA 's Office of Inspector General said it did not approve the language of Robbi 's warning and advised , `` All EPA officials and employees are required to cooperate '' with the office . `` This cooperation includes providing the OIG full and unrestricted access to EPA documents , records , and personnel , '' the statement read . `` We are currently engaged in discussions with OECA [ Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance ] to assure that OIG and OECA interpretations are consistent in this matter . '' And Sen. Barbara Boxer , a California Democrat who has long battled with the agency 's administrator , Stephen Johnson , said the instructions showed that Johnson is `` turning the EPA into a secretive , dangerous ally of polluters , instead of a leader in the effort to protect the health and safety of the American people . '' Last week , Johnson denied a request to appear before two Senate committees to talk about whether the EPA 's decisions comply with its staff 's legal and technical recommendations . The committee 's chairman , Sen. Patrick Leahy , D-Vermont , has asked the inspector general 's office to assess the administration 's claims of executive privilege as it tries to keep documents related to EPA decisions from Congress . Boxer chairs the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works . She is expected to hold a news conference Tuesday to talk about what she calls `` political interference in recent EPA decisions '' and discuss `` apparent contradictions between the sworn testimony '' of Johnson and accounts given by other sworn witnesses .
EPA e-mail told employees not to answer questions from its own inspector 's office . Comment: Watchdog group calls e-mail a `` gag order '' ; EPA official says it 's not about secrecy . Tuesday news conference to address whether EPA avoided giving public information .