Unfortunate Distraction - Investigation of EPA Email Accounts?

For people outside of the Washington Beltway, the following headline would sound totally ridiculous:  "EPA IG audits administrator’s private e-mail account," from the Washington Post. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/epa-ig-audits-administrators-private-e-mail-account/2012/12/18/7348ea56-494e-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html )

The story is about the request by House Republicans to the EPA Inspector General to investigate the use by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson of an email account that is not named in accordance with standard EPA email naming convention.  The question is whether the email alias is somehow inappropriate or even illegal.  There is one statement in the article that speaks for itself.  According to a letter sent to Congress related to this issue, "EPA Associate Administrator Arvin Ganesan wrote that for 'nearly two decades EPA administrators have managed the agency with two email accounts' because one is publicly listed on the agency’s Web site. Jackson received more than 1.5 million e-mails on her primary account in fiscal 2012, he added."