Scott Pruitt, a climate change denier and supporter of fossil fuels, has been nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Anyone who thought that Donald Trump would ultimately fail to follow through on the pledges made during the election campaign is now entitled to put their hopes away. The United States president-elect has indeed nominated Scott Pruitt, a climate change denier and fervent supporter of fossil fuels, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (Environmental Protection Agency, EPA).
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The news broke on the evening of 7 December, immediately picked up — not without some surprise — by the entire American press. "Pruitt, 48, has become a hero to conservative activists," the American daily the New York Times wrote. "He is among the Republicans who in recent years have forged an alliance with the country's leading energy producers, with the aim of rolling back the Obama administration's environmental policies."
"The decision to appoint Pruitt to head the EPA constitutes an assault on the choices made in recent years on the issue of combating climate change," the Washington Post echoed, noting that this is Trump's third "disruptive" nomination. First, Ben Carson, an opponent of social housing policies, had been appointed to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Then Betsy DeVos, a fervent advocate of a school system based on private institutions, had been chosen as Secretary of Education.
Pruitt is currently Oklahoma's Attorney General: a state that derives 50 per cent of its wealth from crude oil extraction. In 2013, his election campaign was backed by Harold Hamm, chief executive of Continental Resources, a large local oil company. In return, Pruitt had promised to do everything in his power to oppose the EPA. A pledge he kept, so much so that, according to the French daily Le Monde, "his legal battles against the rules introduced to limit the use of fossil fuels quickly made him the armed wing of the oil companies."
A few months ago, the EPA's new head was writing in the pages of the National Review: "Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind. That debate should be encouraged — in classrooms, statehouses, and Congress. It's not settled, and disagree is not a dirty word."
"One cannot rule out," Le Monde added, "that Pruitt was nominated with the aim of eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency, given that Trump himself recently stated that 'we need to get rid of it.'" The future Democratic Senate minority leader, Charles Schumer, commented on the nomination, describing a man "reluctant to accept scientific evidence. No one could be more out of touch with reality and the American people than him." Bernie Sanders, the primary candidate, added: "At a time when climate change represents a major threat to our entire planet, the nomination of Pruitt to head the EPA is sad and dangerous."