The confirmation hearings for Trump’s EPA nominee, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, kicked off Wednesday morning. With the hearing currently in a break, here are the key points from round one of the questioning.
The hearing was chaired by John Barrasso who, representing Wyoming, cited that state’s wonderful ability to have both energy production and environment, without mentioning it’s the least populous state in the country. His insistence that lost coal jobs in Wyoming were due to EPA regulations rather than fracking going on next door in North Dakota was the Republican theme for the day.
Tom Carper set the Democratic tone by reminding everyone of the time before the EPA, the Clean Water Act, and Clean Air Act. “This agency has been so successful” that people often assume it’s no longer needed, but “nothing could be further from the truth.”
Pruitt himself was introduced by his “good friend” Inhofe, who bragged about a suit in which Pruitt kept a species from being listed as endangered, and a “scenic rivers” agreement with Arkansas. That scenic rivers bit became the go-to item to prove that Pruitt wasn’t anti-environment.
Pruitt introduced himself as someone who favored “change” and wanted to “re-prioritize” the EPA. He admitted that climate change exists, and that “humans have something to do with it,” but like Rex Tillerson, immediately fell back on the idea that it’s impossible to measure, predict or really do anything about it. Then we got down to the questions.
- Tom Carper forced Carper to confront statements by Trump that he was “going to get rid of the EPA” and that “what the EPA does is a disgrace.”
- Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) discussed how warming oceans are destroying fisheries off Rhode Island. “I see nothing that reassures those fishermen that you’ll care at all” but would rather “support the fossil fuels industry.”
- Ben Cardin (D-MD) expressed concerns about the Chesapeake Bay and the joint state federal program that protects it, especially because Pruitt sued to end the agreement.
- Deb Fischer (R-NE) was one of several Republicans who complained about the “fear” and “concern” caused by the EPA. In almost every case, they didn’t point out an actual issue, but just how scary the EPA is.
- Jeff Merkley (D-OR) brought up the letter written by Devon Energy, which he sent to the EPA on his letterhead. Merkley pressed Pruitt for using his office “as a direct extension of an oil company.”
- Corey Booker (D-NJ) point out that just one of Pruitts’s suits against the EPA was on a rule that prevents 400,000 asthma attacks each year. “If this is representative government, did you represent those children? Did you ever let them write letters on your letterhead? Did you ever file even one lawsuit to help them?”
- Ed Markey (D-MA) pulled up the full 19 cases against EPA by Pruitt and the 8 open cases. Pruitt refused to make any commitment to recuse himself from matters in which he is suing the EPA. Instead, he pled that each matter would need individual review with EPA ethics counsel.
- Kamala Harris (D-CA) questioned Pruitt on California’s Clean Air waiver. Pruitt refused to commit to upholding CA’s waiver to set their own standards on auto pollution. She asked Pruitt to cite a case where he had sued a company over pollution, Pruitt cited an agriculture company—however it later surfaced that Pruitt had just inherited the case.
- Bernie Sanders (D-VT) stated that Pruitt’s nomination designed to protect the fossil fuel industry, and not the environment. He pressed Pruitt for a personal opinion on climate change. Pruitt refused to answer a direct question. “My personal opinion is immaterial.”
- Sanders pointed out the earthquakes in Oklahoma, and asked about any actions Pruitt took as attorney general. Pruitt dodged, saying it wasn’t his responsibility. Bernie, “If that’s the kind of EPA administrator you’re going to be, you’re not going to get my vote.”