WASHINGTON - The nomination of Scott Pruitt, the Attorney General of Oklahoma, to be the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is potentially disastrous for vital science-based policies that protect public health, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

Below is a statement by Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“Scott Pruitt is the wrong choice to run the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA plays an absolutely vital role in enforcing long-standing policies that protect the health and safety of Americans, based on the best available science. Pruitt has a clear record of hostility to the EPA’s mission, and he is a completely inappropriate choice to lead it.

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“As Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Pruitt has repeatedly sued the EPA in an attempt to stop the agency from carrying out its work. Pruitt is supported by the very industries he would be responsible for overseeing, particularly fossil fuel producers. He has questioned the clear scientific evidence for climate change and resisted science-based rules that protect our air and water from pollution.

“Pruitt’s statements and actions are in direct conflict with the job to which he has been nominated. If he is approved, his tenure as administrator would be devastating to the EPA’s ability to carry out its mission. The EPA makes sure Americans have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, healthy communities and safe workplaces. It defends environmental justice and fights the risk of catastrophic climate change. Under Pruitt’s leadership, all of these policies will suffer and so will the Americans who rely on them.

“The U.S. Senate has the responsibility of approving the EPA administrator. It’s this simple: if Senators take seriously their job of protecting the public, they must vote no on Pruitt.”

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