Donald Trump Taps Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt to Head EPA

For Immediate Release 

Contact Anthony Rogers-Wright: 631-402-7855; anthony@environmental-action.org

President-elect Trump continues to engender a foundation of concern for those in the climate, environmental and social justice movements with his appointments to imperative federal positions. The nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General, Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency would be like asking David Duke to head a Civil Rights Commission named after Barry Goldwater.

Pruitt has been a thorn in the side of the agency charged with being the nation’s vanguard for natural resources and climate change. He’s sued EPA over the Clean Power Plan and Clean Water Rule, has advocated heavily for increased fracking and fracked gas infrastructure and has even been implicated in sending letters to federal officials that were almost entirely written by the oil and gas industry. He has proven to be nothing more than a petroleum puppet whose strings are being pulled by Big Oil whom he’s beholden to. Worse yet, he’s a climate denier like his fellow Oklahoman, Climate-Denier-In-Chief, Sen. James Inhofe. With nearly 200 science deniers in Congress already, we can’t afford for the EPA to become an agency bereft of scientific considerations.

Pruitt’s confirmation would be perilous for our climate, natural resources and dismantle the agency’s commitment to protecting the most vulnerable populations through their Environmental Justice initiatives. The only things that would be protected under a Pruitt EPA would be Big Oil profits and their belief that they can slash, drill, burn, and pollute with no consequences. It’s our duty as concerned citizens, climate justice advocates and moral people to do all that we can to block this nomination with  all haste.