Pruitt Confirmation Puts Big Oil in Charge of EPA
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Senate confirmed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt has extensive ties to industries that he would regulate, including the oil and gas industry and factory farming. The Senate voted to confirm Pruitt before it received over 3,000 communications that the minority had demanded between Pruitt and fossil fuel interests. Yesterday an Oklahoma judge ordered Pruitt to turn over the emails by next Tuesday.
Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica offered the following response to today’s vote:
Donald Trump selected Scott Pruitt to oversee the dismantling of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt’s track record in Oklahoma shows that he will sacrifice clean air and clean water to Big Oil. Every senator who voted for Pruitt will be responsible for his attacks on the public health and the environment. Senators voting yes condemned millions of Americans to diseases including asthma, cancer and heart disease. The increased impacts from climate change on communities in the global south will be far worse.
Today Democratic Senators Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Manchin showed no such courage. They put Big Oil profits above the American people in a desperate attempt to save their political careers. With today’s vote, they undermined the resistance to Trump’s extreme agenda.
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Contact: Ben Schreiber, (202) 222-0752, [email protected]