The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) mocked congressional Republicans’ investigation of that group’s potential collusion with federal regulators Thursday.

In a post on NRDC’s blog, David Goldston, its top lobbyist, said he received a letter from Sen. David Vitter David Bruce VitterLysol, Charmin keep new consumer brand group lobbyist busy during pandemic Bottom line Bottom line MORE (R-La.) and Rep. Darrell Issa Darrell Edward IssaDCCC reserves new ad buys in competitive districts, adds new members to 'Red to Blue' program Wife of former Rep. Duncan Hunter sentenced to 8 months of home confinement Harris endorses Democrat in tight California House race MORE (R-Calif.) asking for all of the group’s communications with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding its carbon pollution rule for power plants and the Pebble Mine in Alaska.

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“The more one reads the letter, the more it seems like self-parody, at best,” Goldston wrote. “At worst, it’s a transparent effort to silence anyone promoting policies with which the right wing disagrees.”

Vitter, the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Issa, chairman of the Oversight Committee, launched the investigation Tuesday into allegations of collusion between the group and the agency. It came after a July New York Times story saying NRDC wrote the framework for June’s major climate rule proposal.

Goldston argued in his blog post that the NRDC’s communications with the EPA were no different from other meetings and conversations the agency had with stakeholders and outside groups.

“NRDC’s climate experts developed a proposal, publicly released it, and then met with everyone we could about it — news media, utilities, EPA; you name it,” he said. “EPA took the proposal into consideration — it didn’t adopt it outright, and indeed NRDC will be publicly pushing for changes in what EPA proposed.

He questioned how the Republicans define collusion and “outsized influence,” because numerous other groups met with the EPA before it released the proposal.

But Goldston was also concerned about Republicans finding a problem with a group like NRDC influencing government policies.

“Those trying to influence public policy using the normal tools of government should not have to fear investigation from those who oppose their proposals,” he said.

The EPA has been similar defensive of its policies since the Times story was published.

Shortly after it ran, EPA head Gina McCarthy Regina (Gina) McCarthyOVERNIGHT ENERGY: Energy Department proposes showerhead standards rollback after Trump complaints | Interior memo scaling back bird protections is 'contrary to law,' court rules | Former EPA chiefs call for agency 'reset' Former EPA chiefs call for agency 'reset' Azar arrives in Taiwan amid tensions with China MORE sent a memo to her staff mocking the Times.

“According to an article from Monday, you just cut and pasted a particular [non-governmental organization’s] proposal and called it a day,” she wrote. “If you're laughing right now, it's because you know just how preposterous that is.”

The EPA has also pointed to the hundreds of meetings it had with stakeholders, state and local officials and others before proposing the rule.