The Interior Department has acknowledged that Secretary David Bernhardt’s staff intentionally left controversial meetings with representatives of fossil fuel, timber and water interests off his public calendar, citing “internal protocol” governing his schedules.

The department also confirmed that Bernhardt used a personal itinerary kept on a single Google document that was regularly overwritten by his scheduling staff and said he is still doing so as House Democrats probe whether the practice adheres to federal records laws.

Until now, the department had denied that any schedules were being overwritten. Bernhardt told lawmakers earlier this year the only calendar he used was on a document posted to the department’s website. He said he had “not personally maintained a calendar for years” and had “no intention of suddenly doing so now.”

Many of those calendar entries had little or no description of whom he was meeting and described numerous meetings merely as “internal” or “external.” Separate summaries of his daily schedule released this month show meetings were scheduled with representatives of industries the department regulates, including groups or companies Bernhardt represented as a lobbyist before he joined the Trump administration. While the summaries show that the meetings were scheduled, they don’t make clear whether all the scheduled meetings occurred.

In an interview with CQ Roll Call, Interior Department spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort described how Bernhardt’s staff prepared and maintained the new documents, what they call his “daily cards,” including the fact that the documents are reprints of previous drafts of a Google document that was regularly edited and updated by Bernhardt’s staff.