Experts Voice Support for Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today began the confirmation hearing for Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The following statements from energy and environment policy experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Director of Communications Jim Lakely at [email protected] and 312/377-4000 or (cell) 312/731-9364.

“I worked very hard from 1968 to 1971 to convince President Nixon to establish an environmental protection agency because of the past damage to our environment. However, the time is long past to take down an agency that has become a wholly owned subsidiary of anti-capitalist environmental zealots.

“Having worked as an environmental scientist now for over half a century, I have become familiar with many of the great constitutional warriors who want the best for the environment while maintaining the highest level of scientific ethics and accuracy. None can be placed in a position superior to Scott Pruitt, President-elect Trump’s choice to manage the U.S. EPA and return it to the level of excellence intended for it on behalf of the American people.

“There is simply no doubt that under the direction of a constitutional scholar and environmental regulator like Pruitt, our entire nation and its environment will prosper with the elimination of unnecessary and unwarranted regulation. No doubt the states that have carried the lion’s share of environmental protection for over three decades will experience the credit they deserve and the independence they desire.”

Jay Lehr
Science Director
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000

“Scott Pruitt almost certainly knows more about climate change and the impact of regulations upon businesses and the public than anyone questioning him. Pruitt has had to deal in detail with the fine language of regulations to determine whether the regulations are legal, and whether they will enhance or retard the health, safety and environment of the citizens he served in Oklahoma. All too often, Pruitt has determined EPA regulations violate the letter of the law and impose great costs for little benefit – and when he has done so, he has challenged them in court.

“Pruitt, has fought to uphold federalism, the limits placed upon the federal government in the Constitution, and to promote sound policy on energy and environmental issues. Congress should not only be thanking Pruitt for agreeing to serve, but they should listen to what he has to say about the need to reform the EPA. They could learn a lot from Scott Pruitt.”

H. Sterling Burnett
Research Fellow, Environment & Energy Policy
The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, Environment & Climate News
[email protected]
312/377-4000

“Liberals and activists have decried President-elect Trump’s decision to nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming Pruitt’s opposition to certain EPA regulations in the past makes him unfit for the office. These criticisms are unfounded.

“Pruitt took on the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, a set of regulations crammed through the agency as an end-around of a Congress unwilling to pass the President Obama’s cap-and-tax plan. Rather than be ridiculed, Pruitt should be applauded for opposing these rules, which would cost billions in economic activity every year and prevent only 0.01 degrees C of potential future warming, according to EPA’s own calculations.

“Many Americans agree that the EPA, like the politically correct culture that has thrived for the last eight years, has gone too far. It is time to scale back Obama’s overreaches and put more Americans back to work.”

Isaac Orr
Research Fellow, Energy and Environment Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000

“The Democrats are protesting against Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator because he does not follow their discredited global warming fears. We don’t want another climate alarmist heading EPA and costing the nation unnecessarily higher energy prices. Nature is showing us this fallacy by simple examples, such as January 6, 2022 having snow falling on 47 of the lower 48 states.

“The EPA has the crucial task of writing and enforcing regulations that apply statutes passed by Congress and signed by the president to protect the life and health of Americans. Its work necessarily integrates science, economics, law, politics, and ethics, all of which are rooted in religious world views. A good administrator must demonstrate expertise in at least some of these, and mature understanding of and receptivity to the insights of all. Scott Pruitt has these qualities, as displayed by his activities as Attorney General of Oklahoma.”

James H. Rust
Professor of Nuclear Engineering (Ret.), Georgia Tech
Policy Advisor
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
404/875-3874