(CNN) A top aide to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt directed staffers to consider opening an office in Pruitt's Oklahoma hometown -- before joining the agency's staff, according to congressional Democrats.

Citing government emails, the Democrats say the direction from Pruitt's now-chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, came more than two weeks before Pruitt was confirmed to lead the agency and paralleled improvements eventually made to Pruitt's Washington office.

EPA staffers believed the request was "coming directly from Administrator Pruitt," the lawmakers wrote in one of two letters they made public on Tuesday. The staffers sent the request to the General Services Administration, which handles leases.

"In the email, Mr. Jackson directed EPA staff to identify proposed new office space in Tulsa that included a conference room, secure parking, would be able to accommodate 24/7 security, and included a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) for secure communications," Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon and Donald Beyer of Virginia, all Democrats on the House Science Committee, wrote in the letter to Emily Murphy, the GSA administrator. They sent a similar letter to Pruitt.

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