Oklahoma governor applauds Pruitt nomination to lead EPA

Pruitt has been the attorney general of Oklahoma since 2011 during which time he served two terms as the president of the Republican Attorneys General Association. According to Reuters, he is a leading figure in a legal effort to get rid of the EPA’s flagship Clean Power Plan, which has become the cornerstone of President Obama’s strategy on climate change.

Trump’s appointment of Pruitt drew fierce criticism from environmental groups and former members of Obama’s White House.

There is consensus among the majority of scientists in the field that carbon emissions from human activities are a key driver of rising temperatures and that the impact of climate change will be severe.

Incoming Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of NY said Pruitt “will have to answer many tough questions” in the nominating process.

“The science is clear: climate change – and the existential threat it poses to all Americans – is real”. Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders called the nomination “sad and risky”. “At a time when climate change is the greatest environmental threat to the entire planet, it is sad and risky that Mr. Trump has nominated Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA”, said Sanders. “That’s sad and risky”.

Conservative columnist George F. Will has called him “one of the Obama administration’s most tenacious tormentors”, explaining how Pruitt had been fighting against the Affordable Care Act as well as the administration’s changes to immigration policy.

If Pruitt is confirmed by the Senate, he’d bring a regulatory viewpoint to the agency that very strongly favors the states.

In 2013, Pruitt told told StateImpact, an NPR reporting project, that the EPA can serve a valuable goal, but it has exceeded its mandate to regulate clean air and water by picking winners and losers in the energy industry.

“President-elect Trump’s selection of Scott Pruitt as administrator of the EPA proves he is serious about creating jobs and rolling back the burdensome regulations implemented by the Obama administration”, Abbott wrote.

Schneiderman, who successfully suit Trump over his failed Trump University fraud, winning a $25 million judgment, threw down the gauntlet on Pruitt. “We need the public to be outraged and focused on the important role for the Environment Protection Agency to protect their public health”, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) told ClimateWire.

But after his victory, Trump changed his tone.

“This agreement gives foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use on our land, in our country”, Mr. Trump said at a North Dakota rally. I had a meeting beforehand with Ivanka Trump.

Though Trump had not yet officially named Pruitt as his nominee, senior adviser Kellyanne Conway appeared to confirm Pruitt had gotten the nod as she exited Trump Tower Wednesday evening.