Scott Pruitt has centered his career on opposing the efforts of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

As of Friday, he’s in charge of it — after the Senate voted 52-46 to confirm his appointment as EPA chief.

As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt frequently sued to block its environmental rules and regulations. He is known for expressing skepticism about human-caused climate change and for his cozy relationships with coal, oil and gas companies.

As Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono said Friday, Pruitt “is much more concerned about protecting corporate interests than keeping our communities healthy and safe from pollution.”

Many people suspect he will roll back hard-fought regulations and environmental protections, effectively carrying out Donald Trump’s campaign promise to dismantle the agency.

Given the unique challenges of our isolated state, Hawaii, perhaps more than anyplace else, has valued and depended on the EPA’s watchdog role. That’s why the islands must now find a way to compensate for the Trump administration’s systematic neutering of the EPA.

Hawaii has long prided itself on being a steward of the environment. We have the most ambitious renewable energy mandate in the country (100 percent by 2045), our state constitution mandates the right to a clean and healthy environment, and we give a collective stink eye to anyone who dares use disposable plastic forks at a beach barbecue.

But despite our best intentions, we don’t always get it right.

Just six months ago, for instance, the EPA called us out for some truly bad practices. The agency fined the Big Island, Maui, and the Department of Land and Natural Resources almost $200,000 for the existence of illegal, large cesspools, ordering them closed immediately.

Cesspools are common in Hawaii, and they allow untreated raw sewage to seep into the ground where it can contaminate groundwater, streams and the ocean.

“To make Hawaii’s coastal waters safe for both residents and visitors,” Alexis Strauss, EPA’s acting regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest, said in an August press release, “we must stop the flow of pollutants and pathogens from large capacity cesspools.”

The fact is, we’ve come to rely on the federal agency to both keep us honest and to lead us through some of our environmental challenges.

In 2014, for example, when it was discovered that roughly 30,000 gallons of gasoline had leaked out of the Navy’s underground fuel tanks at Red Hill, possibly contaminating drinking water, it was the EPA that helped navigate the situation and broker a deal.

“The EPA has been held out as the safeguard of the public’s interest in addressing leaks from this facility,” Marti Townsend, who heads Sierra Club’s Hawaii Chapter, told Civil Beat in November. “If the Trump administration follows through on the promise to dismantle the EPA then Oahu needs to have its own mechanisms in place to ensure our water supply is protected. And we should extend that precautionary approach to all of the authorizations we currently rely on as delegated from the EPA.”

Pruitt’s arrival at the EPA needs to be heeded by Hawaii’s nonprofit groups, lawmakers, government officials and engaged citizens, because it is now up to those groups to ensure Hawaii lives up to our environmental promises and responsibilities.

There’s a lot to lose if we don’t.

Economically, Hawaii depends on our postcard-perfect beaches. The tourism industry thrives when Hawaii’s natural world is healthy. But cesspools and drinking water concerns aside, Hawaii is also facing the existential threat of climate change.

Rising sea levels could destroy Hawaii’s coastal way of life, displacing residents and destroying infrastructure. And an increase in extreme weather due to global warming means the islands are especially vulnerable to tropical storms and hurricanes. There were a record-breaking 15 named tropical systems in the Central Pacific last year.

Hawaii has long been a national leader on environmental issues. But without an active and interested EPA double-checking us, that reputation and those values are going to be tested.

It’s not an impossible battle, but it is an uphill one. And it’s going to require more court battles, more funding, and more everyday citizens speaking up.

Be vigilant, Hawaii.