Sierra Club: Senate EPW Advances Unacceptable Nominee to Head EPA

WASHINGTON D.C.-- Today, in a vote boycotted by Democrats over unanswered questions by the nominee, Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee changed the rules so that they could force through Scott Pruitt’s nomination to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), disregarding Pruitt’s conflicts of interest and hostility to federal public health protections.

In response, Sierra Club’s Climate Policy Director Liz Perera released the following statement:

“It is deeply disappointing that the committee that is supposed to put the environment and public first has approved a climate change-denying fossil fuel ally as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Scott Pruitt is dangerously unfit to lead the EPA and has far too many conflicts of interest that should be a red flag for all Americans. He’s collected hundreds of thousands from dirty fuel interests and sued the very agency he now wants to lead eight times, all to weaken public health protections.

“Committee Democrats understandably have questions about Pruitt’s troubling conflicts of interest and whether he is committed to putting the public first. These questions remain unanswered by the nominee and Democrats rightly refused to be complicit in pushing forward such an unacceptable nominee, so Republicans rewrote the rules so that Pruitt can seize control of the EPA and throw critical clean air and water rules out. That is why it is more important than ever that the full Senate must reject Scott Pruitt’s confirmation in order to do right by American families.”