Trump abandoned all pretense of protecting our environment when he named Scott Pruitt to head the EPA.

As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt repeatedly sided with oil, coal and gas companies in lawsuits meant to keep the EPA from doing its job, even as the industry coughed up some $350,000 to fund his political career. Now Pruitt has rejected the scientific consensus that carbon pollution from burning those dirty fuels is driving global climate change. And he’s made clear his intention to protect polluter profits in ways that put the rest of us at risk.

Aiding those efforts, Trump’s budget proposal calls for cutting EPA spending by 31 percent. That means slashing the programs that protect the air we breathe, safeguard us from dangerous pesticides and toxic industrial waste and ensure the quality of our waters, from the Great Lakes and the Hudson River to the Puget Sound and the Chesapeake Bay.

And for what? EPA funding accounts for one-fifth of one penny on every dollar of federal outlays. This isn’t about trying to balance the budget. It’s about hobbling our top environmental steward to free industrial polluters to run roughshod over our basic right to a clean and healthy environment.

That’s not what the country voted for in November.