Trump to pick foe of Obama climate agenda to run EPA

But no sooner was the selection of Pruitt, who opposes president Barack Obama’s climate agenda, announced than the bastion of limousine environmentalists – Hollywood – swung into retaliatory action in the form of Leonardo DiCaprio visiting Trump in NY to lecture him on the importance of a green economy.

The group says Pruitt has a track record of fighting the EPA’s clean water and air regulations.

DiCaprio also presented him with a copy of his new climate change documentary, Before the Flood.

Pruitt’s own official biography highlights his role as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda”, and in the past he has sued the EPA on behalf of Oklahoma utilities.

With the maverick businessman now set to assume the office in January, such Republicans, and notably the energy industry, can expect to have an ally running the EPA.

Pruitt was trained as a lawyer before becoming a state senator in 1998 and attorney general in 2011. The plan is the centerpiece of Obama’s climate change strategy and requires states to curb carbon output.

He’s fought against transgender rights, is now part of a lawsuit over Obama’s immigration policies, and is also suing Obama’s administration over the Affordable Care Act.

Schatz vowed to try and hold up Pruitt’s nomination, citing his views on climate change and his hostility towards the regulations implemented by the Obama administration.

The latest installment of our series examining President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees, and what his picks might mean for MA.

With Pruitt’s stances running so counter to many progressive global warming policies, and climate change in general, it is obvious he will head a very different EPA from the one Americans have seen over the past eight years. NBC’s Chris Pollone reports.

His supporters here in Tulsa are praising Trump’s decision, but others worry what the AG might to do the agency. Oklahoma, a seismically inactive area before gas fracking operations began had 857 earthquakes past year, more than the rest of the continental US combined. During the campaign, the NY billionaire said he would like to abolish the EPA, or at least gut regulations he says impede corporate profits. This type of EPA head would have devastating and long-term effects for our region, including damage to air quality, federal funding to protect Long Island Sound, and protections for healthy drinking water.

The Sierra Club released a statement that called Pruitt “unfit” to lead the EPA.