As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on confirming Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, nearly 450 former EPA officials have sent a letter to the Senate in opposition to Pruitt.
The letter was coordinated by the Environmental Integrity Project,a nonprofit founded 14 years ago by former EPA officials. The 447 who signed the letter claimed their perspective is not partisan.
“Mr. Pruitt’s record raises serious questions about whose interests he has served to date and whether he agrees with the longstanding tenets of U.S. environmental law,” stated the letter.
“Mr. Pruitt’s record and public statements strongly suggest that he does not share the vision or agree with the underlying principles of our environmental laws. Mr. Pruitt has shown no interest in enforcing environmental laws, a critically important function for EPA. While serving as Oklahoma’s top law enforcement officer, Mr. Pruitt issued more than 50 press releases celebrating lawsuits to overturn EPA standards to limit mercury emissions from power plants, reduce smog levels in cities and regional haze in parks, clean up the Chesapeake Bay and control greenhouse gas emissions.”
The letter to Senate President Mitch McConnell said Pruitt “has gone to disturbing lengths to advance the views and interests of business.”
It also said those who signed the letter were most concerned about Pruitt’s “reluctance to accept and act on the strong scientific consensus on climate change.”
It also accused him of using a familiar dodge in questioning climate change by stating that there is continuing debate and dialogue about the ability to measure with precision the degree of the impact.
The hundreds also noted how former EPA administrators, Republicans and Democrats embraced their responsibility to protect public health and the environment.
“But in the largest majority of cases it was evident to us that they put the public’s welfare ahead of private interests. Scott Pruitt ha not demonstrated this same commitment.”
The publication Slate noted that the objections are similar to those raised by Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
