Donald Trump picks Scott Pruitt, longtime EPA critic, to head environmental agency

In response, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman vowed to “use the full power” of his office to use the law to “compel” the enforcement of environmental laws under Trump.

Whitehouse also said that companies who believe the country should address climate change should also speak out against Pruitt’s nomination.

That’s because Pruitt, Oklahoma’s attorney general, has joined other states to sue the EPA over its controversial Clean Power Plan and has stated his skepticism of man-made climate change, naturally upsetting liberal Democrats and environmental activists.

Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency has deep ties to Big Oil.

This post has been updated.

Pruitt has served as Oklahoma’s attorney general since 2010.

Fox News has also reported that Pruitt has been noted to be a reliable advocate for fossil fuel and energy industries and worked closely with oil and gas companies in his career. Trump announced late Wednesday as well that he’ll nominate Linda McMahon, former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, as administrator of the Small Business Administration. And what will Scott Pruitt do as EPA head?

“We are going to do everything we can to stop his nomination”, Sen.

NY attorney general Eric Schneiderman described Mr Pruitt as “a unsafe and unqualified choice for EPA”, and vowed to “aggressively” fight back against any attempts to reverse progress on climate change.

Early in his career, Pruitt sued to prevent the EPA from settling lawsuits brought by environmental groups like the Sierra Club.

As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt has sued the Obama administration over the climate rules for power plants.

Expectedly, the energy industry is happy with the decision of Trump and is confident that Pruitt, being an ally of fossil fuel, will not come up with any regulations that will inhibit the oil and gas sector.

If Pruitt is indeed nominated to the position it will be a stunning rebuke to the environmental protection efforts of President Barack Obama.

Pruitt is also a very public climate change doubter. “Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind”, the pair wrote.

“We presented the president-elect and his advisors with a framework – which LDF developed in consultation with leading voices in the fields of economics and environmentalism – that details how to unleash a major economic revival across the United States that is centered on investments in sustainable infrastructure”, said Terry Tamminen, CEO of LDF.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted a statement saying Pruitt’s record as attorney general is a “laundry list of favors to the special interests”.