Washington, D.C. — In response to news reports that President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator, Center for American Progress President and CEO Neera Tanden issued the following statement:
On the campaign trail, President-elect Trump called the Environmental Protection Agency’s work to ensure clean air and clean water a “disgrace” and promised to gut the agency. He told the oil and gas industry that the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to protect public health and the environment were focused on “phony” issues. With plans to nominate climate science-denier Scott Pruitt for administrator of the EPA, Trump is now carrying out his plan to take the country’s most important environmental cop off the beat. Far from draining the swamp, President-elect Trump is making a devil’s bargain with Big Oil and the special interests he promised to clear out of Washington. Scott Pruitt has received more than $300,000 from the very fossil fuel industries he will be charged with regulating. This is great news for the billionaires who own the oil and gas industry and terrible news for American families who will have to bear the effects of pollution.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.