Scott Pruitt Will Lead Trump's Disastrous Deregulatory Agenda at EPA

"Today Donald Trump's transition team announced Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt will head the Environmental Protection Agency in his administration.

"It's no secret that Trump wants to abolish environmental protections. Pruitt, who has already fought the EPA on fracking standards on behalf of the fossil fuel industry and has consistently stood for deregulating agricultural pollution in the state, will lead this agenda. And we will be fighting it tooth and nail.

"Pruitt was part of an effort to combat the 17 state Attorneys General standing up to Exxon's climate deception. He famously submitted a letter drafted by Devon Energy to the EPA questioning federal estimates of the amount of air pollution from gas drilling in the state, and he decried the agency's attempts to regulate fracking's impact on drinking water as politically motivated.

"Pruitt's appointment signals that the EPA will take an even more hands off approach to environmental pollution, and the effect will be more fracking, which is exactly what we don't need.

"He's also championed the interests of industrial agriculture in his state, supporting a dubious, deregulatory 'right to farm' initiative that residents rightly rejected at the ballot box this year. He's also sued the EPA over the Waters of the US rule that effectively strengthens the Clean Water Act.

"He's shown over and over again he'll carry water for industry. But there won't be much clean water left if the EPA doesn't start standing up for communities instead."