Almost from the moment that Scott Pruitt was named as Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, employees of the EPA have been risking their careers to object.
Nearly 450 former Environmental Protection Agency employees Monday urged Congress to reject President Trump’s nominee to run the agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, even as current employees in Chicago sent the same message during a noon rally.
And with Pruitt’s vote scheduled for Friday evening, they’re still at it.
Employees of the Environmental Protection Agency have been calling their senators to urge them to vote on Friday against the confirmation of Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s contentious nominee to run the agency, a remarkable display of activism and defiance that presages turbulent times ahead for the E.P.A.
With a bill before Congress to terminate the EPA, Trump’s transition manager suggesting to neuter the agency with enormous cuts, and Pruitt having sued the EPA 13 times, there is every reason to be concerned.
And now Pruitt has been ordered to release thousands of emails showing his collusion with energy companies that have been hidden by Pruitt’s office in Oklahoma.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, brought up the more than 50 unresolved Open Records Act requests given to Pruitt's office during his EPA confirmation hearings. Whitehouse said the lack of transparency was one of the reasons that Democrats opposed Pruitt's nomination.
But those documents won’t be visible until Tuesday — by which time, Republicans are confident they’ll have Pruitt in place.
Democratic senators have asked for a delay in the vote so that the new information can be considered.
"This information ought to be evaluated before Republicans jam his nomination through to lead the EPA. The Majority Leader should delay the vote to confirm Mr. Pruitt until the Senate has had time to review the documents the Oklahoma judge has ordered to be released. This is basic due diligence and fairness," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said in a statement.
Which seems entirely fair, and in fact, necessary. If Pruitt’s nomination was a legal thriller, this would be the point where someone at the lab testifies they’ll have the results for that DNA test on Tuesday … but the judge is saying, nope we don’t need that.
“But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is forcing the Senate to vote tomorrow on Pruitt even though his emails won’t be released until Tuesday. This is an egregious cover up that must not stand," he added in a statement.
John McCain has left town to attend a conference and Susan Collins has said she’ll vote against Pruitt, so it may seem as if Democrats are on the cusp of having enough votes to defeat Pruitt.
But that’s before you factor in defectors.
In a statement, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) said she supports Scott Pruitt’s nomination to EPA administrator. A spokesman for Sen. Joe Manchin said the West Virginian will also vote to confirm him.
If Pruitt’s nomination is confirmed on Friday, those two senators will bear an enormous part of the blame for Pruitt, and for everything that comes after at the EPA.
Still EPA employees are working down to the wire.
Many of the scientists, environmental lawyers and policy experts who work in E.P.A. offices around the country say the calls are a last resort for workers who fear a nominee selected to run an agency he has made a career out of fighting — by a president who has vowed to “get rid of” it.