The Environmental Protection Agency became a political lightning rod under President Barack Obama. Now, the same organization that spent the last decade collecting plastic bag statistics showing that only 2% of plastic bags are actually recycled in the U.S., will soon be headed in a completely different direction.
AOL.com reports that President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the EPA, Scott Pruitt, is regarded by some environmentalists as “the worst nominee ever tapped to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” according to Rhea Suh, the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which recently denounced Pruitt in a scathing statement.
Yet, at the same time, Republicans are celebrating Trump’s pick, who has promised to roll back regulations that many conservatives believe harm businesses.
“The EPA has not acted within the framework provided by Congress,” Pruitt said. “it’s Congress that gives those instruction to the EPA. EPA is an agency, not a legislative body.”
Pruitt has supporters in coal country politicians like West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, another government official who strongly supports Trump’s nomination for EPA administrator.
“I’ve been in the trenches with Scott,” Morrisey said. “I’ve witnessed his passion for the rule of law. I know that he is highly qualified for the position. He will also reinforce the EPA’s core mission and be a friend to the Mountain State.”
Pruitt, who has sued the EPA more than a dozen times as the Oklahoma attorney general, has clearly been one of the strongest critics of the agency over the years, along with Trump himself.
Although Pruitt disagrees with President Trump’s comments about global warming being a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, he still has strong reservations about climate change, despite the international scientific consensus behind man-made climate change.
“This is not a man that you want in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency,” said Suh. “Forget the language of the acronyms and crazy politics of Washington D.C., let’s [talk] about what it means to go to your tap, drink a glass of water, and know that it won’t position you. Because that’s what’s at stake.”
Pruitt still awaits confirmation to run the Agency.