Senate Holds Hearing for EPA Administrator Nominee

On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlined a vision for scaling back the office’s reach. Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that environmental protection can be accomplished in collaboration with states and Congress without undermining the economy.

During his confirmation hearing, Pruitt stated that “we must reject as a nation the false paradigm that if you’re pro-energy, you’re anti-environment, and if you’re pro-environment, you’re anti-energy.” Further, "In this nation, we can grow our economy, harvest the resources God has blessed us with, while also being good stewards of the air, land and water."

If confirmed, Pruitt will be able to rewrite or rescind environmental regulations including the RFS. In 2013, Pruitt filed a “friend of the court” brief in an RFS lawsuit challenging the corn ethanol mandate. “The evidence is clear that the current ethanol fuel mandate is unworkable,” Pruitt said in a press statement in 2013.

Supporters, including Senate EPW Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming, say he would rein in overzealous Obama-era rules and restore balance to environmental regulation, making good on Trump’s promise to focus the EPA on its core mission of protecting the air and water.