Washington, DC — More than 100 people rallied outside the Dirksen Building demonstrating opposition to the appointment of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for EPA Administrator. Protesters carried signs and banners and wore face masks, urging Senators to #StopPruitt.
“Anyone who takes science and our future seriously wouldn’t dream of naming a climate denying, fossil-fuel industry puppet to lead the EPA,” said May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org. “Scott Pruitt built his career off of attacking and undermining the very agency he’s been nominated to lead, all at the bidding of oil, coal, and gas executives. There’s no middle ground for Senators here — you either support a climate denier who puts profits over people, or you do everything in your power to fight this nomination.”
Protesters specifically spotlighted Pruitt’s climate denialism and his conflicts of interest, including his 14 lawsuits against the EPA and his ties to the fossil fuel industry. One investigation of those ties by The New York Times revealed Pruitt allowed fossil fuel industry executives to draft comment letters submitted to the EPA on the Attorney General’s letterhead.
“From the moment Trump nominated Scott Pruitt, the American people have been organizing to defeat his nomination. The public did not vote for our clean air and water safeguards to be thrown into the wind as corporate polluters take control of our government — but that is exactly what Pruitt’s record shows he would do if he seizes the EPA. We will continue to organize to ensure this uniquely unfit and dangerous nominee is rejected,” said Melinda Pierce, Legislative Director of the Sierra Club.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is expected to question Pruitt on climate change and his relationship to the fossil fuel industry. The American Association for the Advancement of Science also released a statement expressing concern over Pruitt’s denial of climate change and his fight against measures to curb the climate crisis.
“Given Scott Pruitt’s long record of protecting industrial polluters, including the oil and gas industry, from the most basic environmental safeguards, his nomination to lead the EPA would be a disaster for our health, environment and climate,” said Emily Wurth, Water Program Director at Food & Water Watch. “We are calling on Senators to aggressively reject his nomination.”
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Contact: Dani Heffernan, [email protected], +1 (305) 992-1544