EPA Nominee Tried to “Run Away from His Record” in Today’s Confirmation Hearing – EDF Action

(Washington, D.C. – January 18, 2017) EPA Nominee Scott Pruitt attempted to use his confirmation hearing today to run away from his long record of opposing clean air and water protections.

The record shows that Mr. Pruitt sued EPA fourteen times to block bedrock safeguards limiting mercury, smog, carbon and acid gases while he was serving as attorney general of his state. Missing from his testimony today were his past boasts of having “led the charge” against the agency he is now nominated to oversee.

“Scott Pruitt tried to run away from his record today. Mr. Pruitt asked the Senate committee to forget his long history of opposing clean air and water safeguards. Unfortunately, that’s the Scott Pruitt who would be put in charge of protecting Americans from pollution, if confirmed,” said EDF Action president Elizabeth Thompson. “Mr. Pruitt also dodged serious questions about his conflicts of interest. He refused to say he would recuse himself from issues involving major energy companies who contributed to his political career. This is a deeply disturbing problem. Mr. Pruitt did himself no favors today.”

Today’s hearing was full of examples where Mr. Pruitt’s record over many years told a different story than his testimony:

• Mr. Pruitt told Senator Sheldon Whitehouse that he never solicited contributions from well-connected energy interests that benefitted from his lawsuits against EPA. But documents released by state open records requests show Mr. Pruitt’s chief of staff asking Devon Energy for help in soliciting the American Petroleum Institute for a contribution to the Republican Attorneys General Association, where Mr. Pruitt is past chairman and a member of the executive committee
• Pruitt claimed his lawsuit against EPA’s mercury protections was merely based on concerns about EPA’s process. In fact, in a legal brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Mr. Pruitt went so far as to cast doubt on the underlying science, writing that “the record does not support EPA’s findings that mercury … pose[s] public health hazards.” (Brief at page 23) And, after a first challenge to our nation’s mercury protections left them intact, Pruitt was so intent on blocking these safeguards that he sued a second time — even after virtually all our nation’s power plants had already complied with the mercury protections at a fraction of the expected cost
• At today’s hearing, Mr. Pruitt professed concern for addressing air pollution that crosses state lines. But Mr. Pruitt sued to block EPA’s safeguard for downwind states, saying the rule “ignore[d] the law” and “encroach[ed] on state sovereignty” — even after the Supreme Court upheld the rule by a vote of 6 to 2. (source
• Senator Kamala Harris asked Mr. Pruitt to name environmental enforcement actions he took as attorney general. Mr. Pruitt cited just one case, against Mahard Egg. As Senator Tom Carper demonstrated, this case was actually brought by Mr. Pruitt’s predecessor and Mr. Pruitt played only a minor role. Mr. Pruitt’s true record on enforcement speaks for itself – he shut down his environmental enforcement unit (source) and his office never once touted environmental enforcement (source).  

As was brought out during today’s hearing, Mr. Pruitt has a long record of taking action on behalf of major polluters while they were funneling money to his political activities. This pattern has created the appearance of an elected official who sees big money-polluting industries as his most important constituent, rather than having the health of American citizens as his top priority. EDF Action’s new web page shows that in 13 of the 14 lawsuits Mr. Pruitt filed against EPA, at least one of Mr. Pruitt’s co-litigators contributed to Mr. Pruitt’s campaign or a PAC affiliated with him.

Scott Pruitt’s repeated collaboration with major polluters undermines confidence in his ability to stand up for everyday Americans as the EPA administrator.

A few examples:

• In 2013, employees at Oklahoma Gas and Electric held a fundraiser for Pruitt. Less than a week later, Pruitt filed a lawsuit against EPA in an effort to block a rule that the company opposed
• In 2014, an oil and gas company called Devon Energy gave $125,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), a political organization Pruitt had led and at which he remained an executive. Two days later, Pruitt wrote a letter to EPA – the agency he’s now been nominated to lead – objecting to the agency’s proposal to study the impact of fracking on public health and air quality
• In 2016, Exxon Mobil made a donation of $50,000 to RAGA, the same political group. A month later, Pruitt wrote a newspaper op-ed publicly attacking efforts to investigate whether Exxon deliberately misled investors and the public despite internal research confirming that climate change is real. 

Scott Pruitt’s record shows why he is the wrong choice to protect clean air and water for American families.