McCollum: EPA Nominee Cares More About Polluters' Profits Than Public Health

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is today considering President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Scott Pruitt, the Republican Attorney General of Oklahoma, to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL-Minn.) — Ranking Member of the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the Environmental Protection Agency — released the following statement on the Pruitt confirmation hearings:

“The Environmental Protection Agency is tasked with protecting the American people from polluters who poison our air and water for profit. Unfortunately, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the EPA — Scott Pruitt — has a record of standing not alongside the American people, but with the very polluters who endanger public health.

“As Oklahoma Attorney General, Mr. Pruitt has aggressively worked to weaken the EPA’s ability to enforce the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. He has been so cozy with the fossil fuel industry that he even colluded with them to challenge federal environmental rules in court.

“Mr. Pruitt is a climate denier. He has repeatedly suggested that climate change science is ‘far from settled’ and even argued that attempts to rein in carbon emissions were ‘lawless.’ He has called for the end of the Clean Power Plan and a reversal of all the progress we have made to address the threat of climate change.

“I take very seriously our shared responsibility to protect Americans’ public health today and to preserve our environment for future generations. Given Mr. Pruitt’s toxic record, the United States Senate should reject his nomination.”