Scott Pruitt: Hiding from Reporters and Reality

By Liz Perera

Sierra Club

Scott Pruitt is having a rough week. On Monday, the New York Times reported on a draft climate assessment created by scientists across the federal government that refutes basically everything Pruitt has said about climate disruption. In other words, it has real science in it, including confirmation that temperatures are at historic highs, that the climate crisis is already impacting US communities and fuelling extreme weather, and that we need to slash carbon pollution now to have any shot at stopping the worst consequences of climate change. The incongruence between science and Pruitt’s position - captured in this video - may be one reason why these scientists don’t trust the Trump Administration. Even some industry-backed groups are worried Pruitt and Trump are going too far. They’re in good company, as huge majorities of the American people don’t trust the Trump Administration either.

Pruitt, however, stuck to his script, telling reporters in Iowa that he hadn’t seen the report - which his agency is mandated to approve, along with those headed by other climate science deniers like Rick Perry. Then, yesterday, in North Dakota Pruitt shrugged off the very real dangers of the climate crisis while on a conservative talk radio show in conjunction with his closed door session with industry and agricultural representatives in the state.

And what happened when real reporters tried to get close enough to ask a question? Pruitt’s own spokesperson threatened to call the police. From the Grand Forks Herald:

When two Herald reporters went to the EERC before the start of the event, they were asked by representatives of Pruitt to leave the grounds before EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox threatened to call police, whom he referred to as "security."

A UND Police officer then arrived to insist the building and its grounds were private property before demanding the reporters move away from the center's front door. An officer had earlier told a pair of protesters the same thing, asking them to cross a road away from the center. The EERC is not private property and is owned by UND.

Running from reality and threatening reporters to try and deny the real effects of the climate crisis is going to impress nobody but billionaire corporate polluters. Maybe that’s the point for Pruitt?

 
Liz Perera is the Sierra Club's Climate Policy Director. Elizabeth “Liz” Martin Perera is the Sr. Director, Climate Policy and Federal Partnerships with the Sierra Club in Washington, DC.  She has worked on climate change and environmental policy with Congress, the Administration, and a diverse group of federal partnerships for over 15 years.  She serves as Sierra Club’s representative to the Equitable and Just Climate Forum and the Climate Action Campaign.  She came to the Sierra Club from the Union of Concerned Scientists, where she authored a report series called Climate Change and Your Health documenting climate impacts like heat waves, ozone pollution, and storm intensity and how frontline communities feel the brunt of these impacts.  Before that she worked on climate and public health policy with numerous government agencies like EPA, DOE and the UN.  At Sierra Club she manages a great group of federal policy staff and works closely with Sierra Club’s environmental law program, campaigns, and grassroots power-building units to develop campaigns and push bold solutions to climate change.  She holds a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Master of Public Health from the University of New York’s School of Public Health.
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