Two more top Environmental Protection Agency officials are under investigation for using secret email accounts to conduct government business — and one will step down from his position Friday.

Region 8 Administrator James Martin said his resignation, effective Friday, was for “personal reasons,” Fox News reported Tuesday. But Martin recently hired an attorney after a Jan. 29 letter from two Republicans — Sen. David Vitter of the Environment and Public Works Committee and Rep. Darrell Issa of the Oversight Committee — inquired about his non-official email correspondence.

“Vitter and Issa said documents showed [Martin] used his private me.com account to confirm a meeting with the general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund,” the Fox News article said.

“To be clear, it does not appear that this transaction was an isolated incident. Rather, the body of emails suggests that you regularly used this personal email account to stay informed on matters relating to your official duties,” Vitter and Issa said in their letter.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently resigned amid accusations that she was using the secret email identity, “Richard Windsor,” to conduct government business out of the public’s eye, in violation of  federal open-records laws.

Now, Jackson’s replacement, acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe, is also being investigated for conducting EPA business via personal emails, according to Fox News.

“Now we know that Lisa Jackson’s acting replacement, Bob Perciasepe, appears to have been doing the same thing to dodge the agency’s mandatory recordkeeping policy. EPA owes us all some answers about their absolute disregard for transparency, especially from their acting administrator or any potential nominee to be administrator,” Vitter said in a statement Tuesday.

Read more from Fox News.

Read Vitter and Issa’s letter to Martin.

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Janeen Capizola

"And though she be but little, she is fierce." And fun! This conservative-minded political junkie, mom of three, dancer and one-time NFL cheerleader holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science. [email protected]. Twitter: @JaneenBPR

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