On the side note: While Oklahoma AG,Oklahoma was the lone maverick in national mortgage settlement signed by 49 states.
DONALD TRUMP ANNOUNCED Wednesday that he wants the Environmental Protection Agency to be run by Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a longtime ally of the oil and gas industry who has led litigation efforts to overturn the EPA’s rules to address climate change.
As a state attorney general, Pruitt was caught sending a letter to regulators that was drafted by lobbyists working for Devon Energy, a major drilling company. As Pruitt joined a lawsuit against rules opposed by the fracking industry, he simultaneously courted industry donors, including billionaire fracking executive Harold Hamm, who served as the co-chair of Pruitt’s 2013 election campaign.
Pruitt has questioned the role of human-made pollution in causing climate change, writing for the National Review this year that the “debate is far from settled.”
The Pruitt announcement was by immediately criticized by environmentalists. Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized the nomination of “a climate change denier” who “has worked closely with the fossil fuel industry to make this country more dependent, not less, on fossil fuels.” Robert Verchick, the president of the Center for Progressive Reform, called the pick “a clear indication that the administration plans a full-throated assault on environmental protections.”