Posted on 12/07/2016 1:23:35 PM PST by SeekAndFind
On Thursday, sources confirmed to multiple media outlets that Donald Trump has chosen Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Earlier in the day, Trump's Homeland Security pick — retired general John Kelly (here's what you should know about him) — was also announced.
The choice of Pruitt is bad news for environmentalists as he has led the charge nationally against President Obama's climate change policies. Here's what you need to know.
Pruitt’s opinion on climate change aligns with that of Trump, who repeatedly has dismissed global warming as a hoax, in conflict with the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity through greenhouse gas emissions is the primary cause of changes in the climate. He co-authored a piece in the Tulsa World in May that the debate over climate “is far from settled,” and that “scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.”
[The Hill]
Pruitt joined a coalition of states and other challengers in a failed attempt to kill EPA’s 2009 scientific declaration that climate change poses a threat to public health and welfare. That EPA "endangerment finding" is the basis for many of the agency's subsequent greenhouse gas rules and is likely to come under new attack under Trump.
[Politico]
Oklahoma, under Pruitt’s lead, was one of two dozen states to file suit against the EPA over the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s regulatory effort to curb emissions from power plants. Pruitt said he would ensure that the power plant rules, and other regulatory efforts from the Obama administration, “will ... not survive his presidency.”
Attorneys general in at least a dozen states are working with energy companies and other corporate interests, which in turn are providing them with record amounts of money for their political campaigns, including at least $16 million this year...[N]ever before have attorneys general joined on this scale with corporate interests to challenge Washington and file lawsuits in federal court...For Mr. Pruitt, the benefits have been clear. Lobbyists and company officials have been notably solicitous, helping him raise his profile as president for two years of the Republican Attorneys General Association[.]
Speaking to a group of oil and gas executives, Pruitt said:
Whether it’s EPA through [carbon standards], EPA through regional haze [regulations] or Fish and Wildlife through endangered species, what we see is a regulatory approach that says ‘Fossil fuels are bad, and we’re going to do all we can to elevate renewables.’...There is a reason and a need to have an Environmental Protection Agency...The EPA has performed a very important role for us all. There are air-quality issues that cross state lines. There are water-quality issues, obviously, that cross state lines.
Throughout the debate on same-sex marriage, Pruitt actively resisted the notion:
A US Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage for all states threatens Oklahomans’ ability to live out their religious beliefs in the public square, Attorney General Scott Pruitt said in a written statement. As an example, Pruitt said, churches and other religious organizations could face having their tax-exempt status revoked for refusing to recognize same-sex marriage.
Pruitt filed a brief in the case supporting the idea that privately held companies could withhold birth control coverage from employees based on religious beliefs:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that privately-held companies don't have to provide birth control to their employees, if that goes against their religious beliefs. Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt says he's thankful for the high court's ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby. He's known the founders — the Green family — for years, and had filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of their position.
[News 9]
The news just keeps getting better!!!!!
Pruitt Has Recently Questioned The Validity Of The Science Behind Global Warming.....If he is worth his salt, that should be REJECTED.
That pretty much checks all the right boxes!
Sounds like a great choice!
I think I like this guy.
I thought she tore Gore (ANOTHER) asshole?
And he’s a General ;-)
There is no science behind the validity of global warming.
Someone has to measure the number of deer pellets per acre throughout the US.
Has he been chosen to preside over the full shutdown of that useless department?
UpVote!
Everything you need to know about the AGW movement was stated quite clearly by the UN's top climate official in 2015:
"This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model, for the first time in human history.
"This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the industrial revolution. That will not happen overnight and it will not happen at a single conference on climate change, be it COP 15, 21, 40 - you choose the number. It just does not occur like that. It is a process, because of the depth of the transformation."
--Christiane Fugueres, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC
If he can do NOTHING but get the damned corn out of our gasoline and into our cows where it belongs, he’ll have been a ROARING success !
Has Recently Questioned The Validity Of The Science Behind Global Warming.....I meant should have read “REJECTED global warming”. My bad typing.
Thank you for keeping your campaign promises Mr. Trump and not going wobbly like a typical RINO.
If not, pick someone else that will
A big win for those who oppose corrupt government and their climate scam.
“”Meets Ivanka’s approval?””
LOL- so much for the “dialogue” al Bore had with the Trump’s-
Obviously saw what a schemer/charlatan Al is—
conning the WORLD govts. out of 100’s of millions of dollars!!
Progressive liberal tree-huggers must be contemplating suicide by now.....
Thank you, Mr. President Trump!
Sounds like a solid pick!
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