Donald Trump Taps Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to Lead EPA Republican has been harsh critic of agency, fought Obama’s environmental regulations By Amy Harder and Peter Nicholas
http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-taps-oklahoma-attorney-general-scott-pruitt-to-lead-epa-1481143068
WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a transition official, choosing a harsh critic of the agency to take its helm.
As the chief legal officer of a big oil and natural-gas producing state, Mr. Pruitt, a Republican, has led legal fights against some of President Barack Obama’s most significant environmental rules.
Mr. Pruitt has touted his leadership role in fighting the EPA rule that cut power-plant carbon emissions, as well as an EPA measure that put more bodies of water under federal jurisdiction. Both of those rules have been temporarily blocked by federal courts as litigation proceeds.
In choosing a legal official to head his EPA, Mr. Trump could be signaling that legal action will be central to his plans to repeal a raft of regulations, something he promised on the campaign trail.
The Obama administration has issued an array of regulations, most originating at the EPA, aimed at cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, including a high-profile rule that would reduce carbon emissions at power plants. Mr. Trump has vowed to repeal that rule, called the Clean Power Plan, and a host of others related to climate change and other environmental issues.
The selection of Mr. Pruitt reflects a request by some on Mr. Trump’s transition team that his cabinet—currently heavy on close allies and rich business people—should also include state officials and others not closely associated with the president-elect.
Mr. Pruitt wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Mr. Pruitt has been a close ally of the oil and natural gas industry, whose influence in Oklahoma rivals its clout in even Texas. Fifteen percent of Oklahoma’s GDP comes from oil and natural gas, second most in the country after Alaska, according to Kevin Book, managing director of research firm ClearView Energy Partners LLC.
Oklahoma City is also home to Continental Resources, whose founder and CEO, Harold Hamm, is a top energy adviser to Mr. Trump, as well as an ally of Mr. Pruitt’s.
“He understands the regulatory stranglehold that the EPA has had on industry during the Obama administration,” Mr. Hamm said of Mr. Pruitt Wednesday. “I believe that he will work to unleash prosperity in America through the proper use of regulations and adhering to the rule of law.”
Mr. Pruitt has pushed back against a group of Democratic attorneys general who are investigating ExxonMobil Corp.’s handling of climate-change science in recent decades. Mr. Pruitt has indicated he questions the scientific consensus that human activity is helping raise the Earth’s temperature, though he has been less outspoken about it than some other candidates Mr. Trump was considering to head the EPA, such as former Texas environmental regulator Kathleen Hartnett White. CONTINUE AT SITE
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