Washington: The US Senate has approved President Donald Trump's pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday despite objections from Democrats and green groups worried he will gut the agency.

Mr Trump's choice of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has been mired in controversy.

Mr Pruitt sued the agency he will now lead more than a dozen times while lead prosecutor of his oil and gas producing state, and has expressed doubts about the science behind climate change.

However many Republican lawmakers view him as a welcome change at the top of the EPA, an agency they say declared war on the coal industry during Barack Obama's presidency with its rules against carbon emissions.