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Scott Pruitt

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Not to be confused with Scott Pruett.

Scott Pruitt
14th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 17, 2017
PresidentDonald Trump
DeputyMike Flynn (Acting)
Andrew Wheeler (Nominee)
Preceded byGina McCarthy
17th Attorney General of Oklahoma
In office
January 10, 2011 – February 17, 2017
GovernorMary Fallin
Preceded byDrew Edmondson
Succeeded byMike Hunter
Member of the Oklahoma Senate
from the 36th district
In office
2003–2007
Preceded byRedistricted
Succeeded byBill Brown
Member of the Oklahoma Senate
from the 54th district
In office
1999–2003
Preceded byGed Wright
Succeeded byRedistricted
Personal details
Born
Edward Scott Pruitt[1]

(1968-05-09) May 9, 1968 (age 56)
Danville, Kentucky, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseMarlyn Pruitt (1992–present)
Children2
EducationGeorgetown College (BA)
University of Tulsa (JD)

Edward Scott Pruitt (born May 9, 1968) is an American lawyer and Republican politician from the state of Oklahoma who is currently the fourteenth Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Nominated for the position by President Donald Trump, Pruitt was confirmed by the United States Senate to lead the EPA on February 17, 2017.

Pruitt represented Tulsa and Wagoner Counties in the Oklahoma Senate from 1998 until 2006. In 2010, Pruitt was elected Attorney General of Oklahoma. In that role, he opposed abortion rights, same-sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act, and environmental regulations as a self-described "leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda."[2] In his campaigns for Oklahoma Attorney General, Pruitt received campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry. As Oklahoma's Attorney General, Pruitt sued the Environmental Protection Agency at least 14 times regarding the agency's actions.[3][4]

Pruitt rejects the scientific consensus that human activities are a primary contributor to climate change and that carbon dioxide is the primary contributor.[3][5][6][7]

Early life

Pruitt was born in 1968 in Danville, Kentucky, but moved to Lexington as a boy. He was a football and baseball player at Lafayette, earning a baseball scholarship to the University of Kentucky, where he played second base. After a year, he attended Georgetown College in Kentucky and graduated in 1990 with bachelor's degrees in political science and communications.[8] He then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he attended the University of Tulsa and earned a Juris Doctor in 1993.[9]

Law and business career

Pruitt entered into private practice in Tulsa where he specialized in constitutional law, contracts, insurance law, labor law, and litigation and appeals.[10]

From 2003 until he was elected Attorney General of Oklahoma in 2010, Pruitt was co-owner and the managing general partner of the Oklahoma RedHawks, a AAA minor league baseball team. Pruitt has said that, while he was the owner, the team "regularly rated among the league's leaders in attendance and merchandise sales."[11]

Early political career

Oklahoma State Senate

Pruitt's official photo as a state senator

After five years as an attorney, Pruitt was elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 1998, representing Tulsa and Wagoner Counties.[12] After two years in the Senate, Pruitt was selected to serve as the Republican whip from 2001 to 2003. He was then selected to serve as the Republican Assistant Floor Leader, a position he held until he left the Senate in 2006.[10] During that time he also sat as the chair of a task force for the American Legislative Exchange Council.[13]

2001 U.S. House campaign

See also: Oklahoma's 1st congressional district special election, 2002

Pruitt, while a freshman state legislator, sought his party's nomination to succeed Steve Largent as the representative for Oklahoma's 1st congressional district in 2001. Largent, who had resigned to run for Governor of Oklahoma, would be replaced by special election rather than by gubernatorial appointment. Two other main candidates emerged for the job, including sitting State Representative John A. Sullivan, the eventual winner, and Cathy Keating, the wife of then-Governor Frank Keating. Pruitt came in third behind Sullivan and Keating.[14]

2006 Lieutenant Governor campaign

See also: Oklahoma state elections, 2006 § Lieutenant governor

Pruitt sought the Republican nomination to replace outgoing Republican Mary Fallin as Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma in the 2006 lieutenant gubernatorial election. In the primary election, Pruitt faced Nancy Riley and Speaker of the House Todd Hiett. In the primary election on July 25, 2006, Pruitt received 34% of the vote, Riley received 23%, and Hiett received 43%. Pruitt, pursuant to Oklahoma state law, had to face Hiett in a runoff election in order to receive the party's nomination. Pruitt was defeated by Hiett by less than one percent in the run-off primary.[15]

Oklahoma Attorney General

2010 election

See also: Oklahoma state elections, 2010 § Attorney General

In 2010, Pruitt ran for the position of Attorney General of Oklahoma. He won the Republican primary on July 27, 2010, with 56.05% of the vote, defeating Ryan Leonard, a former state prosecutor in Canadian County and former senior aide to former U.S. Senator Don Nickles.[16] While the Democratic nominee, Oklahoma City defense attorney Jim Priest, ran on a more traditional attorney general platform of law and order, Pruitt ran an innovative campaign pledging to fight the federal government.[17] In 2010 Pruitt said “There’s a mentality emanating from Washington today that says, ‘We know best.’ It’s a one-size-fits-all strategy, a command-and-control kind of approach, and we’ve got to make sure we know how to respond to that.”[7][18] Pruitt went on to defeat Priest in the November 2, 2010 general election with 65.11% of the vote.[19]

2014 election

See also: Oklahoma elections, 2014 § Attorney General

Pruitt ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections.[20]

Tenure

Pruitt speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C.

Federalism

Pruitt established a first-of-its-kind "federalism unit" to fight "unwarranted regulation and systematic overreach" by the federal government.[21] While typically state's attorneys general sue companies in regulated industries for compliance with state law, Pruitt partnered with regulated companies to sue the federal government for regulatory relief.[22] The federalism unit was dedicated to fighting President Barack Obama's regulatory agenda and suing the administration over its immigration policy, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.[17][23][24] Pruitt said, "Number one, I’m going to establish an office of federalism internal to the AG’s office. It will — it will be an office or a division where I will retain attorneys that will wake up each day, go to bed each night with one thought in mind, “How do we make your constitutional liberties and freedoms real against Washington’s encroachment?”"[17] Pruitt believes state governments are better positioned than the federal government to regulate local industries.[7][25]

Pruitt's national profile was raised in 2012 when he was elected chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), and re-elected for a second term in February 2013.[22][17][26][27] Pruitt raised funds for RAGA from the energy industry, helping him to become chairman.[28] At RAGA Pruitt helped start RAGA's "Rule of Law" campaign and the Rule of Law Defense Fund which raised funds to support state's attorneys general collaborating on lawsuits and other challenges to the Obama administration on issues including the environmental, the Affordable Care Act, securities regulation, and immigration.[22][29][30] In 2014 The New York Times wrote that the state's attorneys general acted "like a national law firm...never before have attorneys general joined on this scale with corporate interests to challenge Washington and file lawsuits in federal court."[22]

In 2012, Oklahoma was the only state opting out of a portion of the National Mortgage Settlement reached with five national lenders in the wake of the 2010 foreclosure crisis. Pruitt said the settlement overreached the authority of state's attorneys general, unfairly benefited homeowners who stopped making mortgage payments, and had "morphed into an attempt by President Barack Obama to establish an overarching regulatory scheme."[31]

Environment

Pruitt dissolved the Environmental Protection Unit in the Attorney General's office.[17][32][33] He stated a desire to increase operational efficiency and shifted the attorneys responsible for environmental protection to the Attorney General's Public Protection Unit and the Solicitor General's Unit. Pruitt said "the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality – not the Office of Attorney General – has primary responsibility for implementing and enforcing environmental laws in Oklahoma."[34]

Pruitt coordinated with major oil and gas producers, electric utilities, and conservative political advocacy groups, including groups funded by billionaire brothers Charles Koch and David Koch, to oppose environmental regulations.[35][36][30][37] The oil and gas industry contributed over $300,000 to Pruitt's political campaigns over the years.[32][38] Pruitt used his office's stationary to send letters written by energy industry lobbyists to President Obama and to federal agencies during public comment.[22][35][39] In one draft submitted to Pruitt's office from Devon Energy, Pruitt changed 37 of 1,016 words, copied it onto his state government letterhead and sent it to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson.[22][40] In 2013 the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the leading refinery trade group, provided Pruitt's office with template language for a petition and collaborated with Pruitt’s office in opposition to ozone limits and the Renewable Fuel Standard Program biofuel quotas.[36][37][41] Pruitt's office said, "The A.G.’s office seeks input from the energy industry to determine real-life harm stemming from proposed federal regulations or actions. It is the content of the request not the source of the request that is relevant."[22] In a The Oklahoman interview Pruitt said "I don’t think there is anything secretive in what we’ve done. We’ve been very open about the efforts of my office in responding to federal overreach," and explained that Oklahoma City-based Devon was a constituent.[42][43] In 2016 environmental activist Bill McKibben wrote in the New York Daily News that Pruitt was "a mouthpiece and a puppet of the fossil-fuel industry. He’s a stenographer."[44][45] On Pruitt's nomination to EPA administrator, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi wrote “the head of the EPA cannot be a stenographer for the lobbyists of polluters and Big Oil. Scott Pruitt’s record as Oklahoma’s Attorney General is a laundry list of favors to the special interests. Pruitt has brazenly used his office as a vehicle for the agenda of big polluters and climate deniers.”[46][47][48]

Pruitt led a group of state's attorneys general concerned about EPA regulation.[17] On a suggestion from Andrew Miller, a fossil fuel industry lobbyist and former Virginia state's attorney general, who was inspired by the collaboration of some state's attorneys general in challenging the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Pruitt organized a two-day conference in 2013 in Oklahoma City of corporate lawyers, lobbyists and Republican state's attorneys general called the "Summit on Federalism and the Future of Fossil Fuels." A week later, a "Federalism in Environmental Policy" task force was formed from attorneys from the offices of 19 state's attorneys general.[17][22] Recalling the summit, Miller said "[t]he issue of the day was discussed in a way that allowed Attorney General Pruitt, to his credit, to emerge as one of the leaders, if not the leader with respect to energy issues among the attorneys general."[49] In 2014 The New York Times wrote "Attorneys general in at least a dozen states are working with energy companies and other corporate interests, which in turn are providing them with record amounts of money for their political campaigns, including at least $16 million this year."[22]

Pruitt opposed the EPA Inspector General's 2014 investigation into the impact of hydraulic fracturing on water resources, writing that the investigation was "politically motivated."[50][51][52]

Pruitt was one of 21 state's attorneys general who signed an amicus brief in opposition to the EPA's Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan, in support of a federal lawsuit filed by farm bureaus that claimed the EPA usurped the power of states.[53] The EPA "acted in excess of the authority granted to it by Congress," Pruitt said in written testimony in support of his EPA administrator nomination.[54]

Lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency

Pruitt sued the EPA at least 14 times.[17][35][55][56] Regulated industry companies or trade associations who were financial donors to Pruitt's political causes were co-parties in 13 of these 14 cases.[55] Pruitt challenged Obama administration environmental rules regulating interstate pollution, including suing to block the Clean Power Plan four times, challenging mercury pollution limits twice, ozone pollution limits once, fighting the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and the Clean Water Rule, and fighting regulations on methane emissions.[50][55][23] As of June 2014, all of Pruitt's lawsuits against the EPA had failed.[57]

Pruitt "led the charge against the Clean Power Plan," according to The Washington Post.[32] The Clean Power Plan was proposed in 2014 under provision of the Clean Air Act. The Clean Power Plan "established the first national limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants," the United States' "single largest source of the pollution fueling climate change" and was "the biggest step" the U. S. had "ever taken to address climate change," according to the League of Conservation Voters in 2015.[58] After the Supreme Court stayed implementation of the Clean Power Plan until all lawsuits were settled, Pruitt said, "The Clean Power Plan, this particular rule has been stopped dead in its tracks and will not survive this presidency."[17]

Under Pruitt, Oklahoma sued the EPA and lost on challenges to the EPA’s regulatory authority over pollutants responsible for creating regional atmospheric haze.[59] Pruitt was disappointed at a 2014 Supreme court decision that upheld the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR).[60] The CSAPR, also under provision of the Clean Air Act, updated the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) from 2005, and protects downwind states from emissions of sulpher dioxide, nitrous oxide, ozone, and fine particulates from power plants in upwind states. Environmental law expert Richard Revesz, director of the American Law Institute and a law professor and dean emeritus at the New York University School of Law, wrote in a 2017 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times "Pruitt’s views are inconsistent with any coherent vision of federalism...Left to their own devices, states cannot effectively control pollution that travels across state lines."[61]

Pruitt "staunchly opposed" the Clean Water Rule, according to Politico.[50] The Clean Water Rule, also known as the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, was proposed in 2015 under provision of the Clean Water Act of 1972, and defines the scope of federal water resource management for streams and wetlands. Pruitt and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul called the WOTUS rule the “greatest blow to private property rights the modern era has seen” in a 2015 op-ed in The Hill.[62][63]

Pruitt also sued the EPA on behalf of Oklahoma utilities unwilling to submit EPA mandated plans to reduce emissions from their coal-fired plants, and criticized the agency in a congressional hearing.[64][65] In 2013, Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources, co-chaired Pruitt's reelection campaign; upon his re-election, Pruitt jointly filed a lawsuit against a federal regulation alongside the Oklahoma Gas & Electric and an energy industry group funded by Hamm.[22][28]

Under Pruitt, Oklahoma sued the EPA and lost on challenges to the EPA’s regulatory authority over mercury and other toxins. It challenged the manner in which EPA sued unrelated entities and for what Pruitt termed the agency's "sue and settle" practices.[59]

Pruitt sued the EPA under the federal Freedom of Information Act. The EPA estimated the request would cost the EPA $10,000. A federal judge dismissed the request as overly broad.[59]

Pruitt described himself as "a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda."[2][23][56][66] “Pruitt has a clear record of hostility to the EPA’s mission" and has "resisted science-based rules that protect our air and water from pollution," according to the Union of Concerned Scientists in 2016.[62][67] In January 2017 Eric Pooley of the Environmental Defense Fund and author of The Climate War wrote in Time magazine "As the Attorney General of Oklahoma, Pruitt has shown he is not only a relentless opponent of EPA standards for climate pollution. He has been a relentless opponent of basic pollution limits as well, the kind that protect us from mercury, smog, arsenic and other deadly air toxics...Pruitt’s legal knowledge and methodical approach could make him extremely effective at tearing down clean air protections. He is focused, strategic and careful, hiding his dangerous positions behind legalese."[68]

Abortion

In 2013, Pruitt supported the Oklahoma legislature's bid to join four other states trying to restrict medical abortions by limiting or banning off-label uses of drugs, via House Bill 1970. After the state Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling that the abortion law was unconstitutional, Pruitt requested that the United States Supreme Court review the case. Pruitt was unhappy with the United States Supreme Court's rejection of the Oklahoma case.[69][70]

In November 2014, after the Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked the enforcement of two abortion-related laws until after their constitutionality was litigated (which could take up to a year or more), Pruitt's office communicated the Attorney General's intention to support their implementation and enforcement.[71][72]

Marriage

In June 2013, Pruitt maintained that the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a provision of DOMA, a federal law that denied federal benefits to homosexual married couples did not affect Oklahoma's laws on the subject.[73]

Pruitt expressed his dissatisfaction when a federal court ruled that Oklahoma's voter-approved amendment in 2004 to the Oklahoma State Constitution that defined marriage as only the union of one man and one woman was a violation of the U.S. Constitution in 2014.[74] In October 2014, Pruitt criticized the Supreme Court's refusal to hear Oklahoma's appeal in the definition of marriage case.[75]

Transparency and right to know

Pruitt halted reporting on hiring of outside counsel by state government, reporting mandated by state law.[59]

In February 2017, Pruitt was ordered by the Oklahoma District Court to release thousands of emails of communication with fossil fuel industries in order to comply with Oklahoma Open Records Act requests filed over a two-year period by the liberal watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy.[38][35]

Pruitt sued the EPA under the federal Freedom of Information Act. A federal judge dismissed the request as overly broad.[59]

Other issues

On March 6, 2014, Pruitt joined a lawsuit targeting California's prohibition on the sale of eggs laid by caged hens kept in conditions more restrictive than those approved by California voters. Less than a week later, Pruitt announced that he would investigate the Humane Society of the United States, one of the principal proponents of the California law.[76][77] In October 2014, a California judge dismissed the lawsuit, rejecting the arguments of Pruitt and the other attorneys-general concerning California's Proposition 2, a 2008 ballot initiative. Judge Kimberly Mueller ruled that Oklahoma and the other states lacked legal standing to sue on behalf of their residents and that Pruitt and other plaintiffs were representing the interests of egg farmers, rather than "a substantial statement of their populations."[78][79][80]

On September 9, 2014, in Pruitt v. Burwell, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma ruled against the IRS.[81]

In April 2015, Pruitt wrote a letter to school superintendents stating that schools can lawfully allow the dissemination of religious literature on campus.[82]

In April 2014, an Oklahoma trial court found the state's execution drug supply law was unconstitutional, and after the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals refused to order a stop to executions, the Oklahoma Supreme Court did.[83] Pruitt then filed a motion arguing that the Supreme Court was acting outside its authority, complaining it was causing a "constitutional crisis".[84] After the Supreme Court refused Pruitt's motion, Governor Mary Fallin faced conflicting court orders, so she issued a declaration rejecting the Supreme Court's authority and scheduling executions.[83] After the state then botched the execution of Clayton Lockett, and the U.S. Supreme Court's subsequently approved of Oklahoma's method in Glossip v. Gross, Pruitt asked to delay all scheduled executions in Oklahoma upon discovering executioners had accidentally used the wrong drug in a lethal injection.[85]

After the organization Oklahomans for Health collected the legally required number of signatures for a referendum ballot on the legalization of medical marijuana, in August 2016, Pruitt's office moved to rewrite the ballot title, but not in time for the November 2016 election. The measure will appear on the 2018 ballot.[86][87]

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Nomination and confirmation

Pruitt on January 4, 2017, during the transition period.

On December 7, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.[88] In a statement explaining the decision to nominate Pruitt, President-elect Trump said that the EPA had an "anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs" and that Pruitt, "the highly respected Attorney General from the state of Oklahoma, will reverse this trend and restore the EPA’s essential mission of keeping our air and our water clean and safe."[89] In response to the nomination, Pruitt said, "I intend to run this agency in a way that fosters both responsible protection of the environment and freedom for American businesses."[89] West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who worked with Pruitt on multiple cases, said Pruitt "cares passionately about the rule of law" and that "[a]ll the actions he's been involved in are rooted in the firm belief that what the administration was doing was unlawful."[49] Writing on their website, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) said, "President-elect Trump has vowed to bring 'honesty, accountability and change to Washington.' General Pruitt's record of accomplishment suggests that he will bring those very same qualities to EPA."[90]

Gene Karpinski said the nomination was "like the fox guarding the henhouse...Time and again, he has fought to pad the profits of Big Polluters at the expense of public health," referring to Pruitt's tenure as Oklahoma Attorney General.[91] Union of Concerned Scientists president Ken Kimmell said "Pruitt's record gives us no reason to believe that he will vigorously hold polluters accountable or enforce the law ... everything we do know makes it clear that he can't and won't do the job."[92] 447 former EPA employees penned a joint letter to oppose Pruitt's nomination, arguing that his lawsuits against the EPA "strongly suggest that he does not share the vision or agree with the underlying principles of our environmental laws", and that they believed that he had not "put the public's welfare ahead of private interests".[93]

The nomination was reviewed in hearings before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, then referred to the full Senate for a vote.[94] Following Pruitt's nomination hearing, Senator John Barrasso stated that "Mr. Pruitt answered significantly more questions than any past EPA administrator has. He has been comprehensively vetted and has demonstrated his qualifications to lead the EPA."[95] Senate Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to delay a vote until after the release of a batch of emails that had been ordered by an Oklahoma judge.[36] On February 17, 2017, the Senate confirmed Pruitt, by a vote of 52–46, to be the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.[96][97] The vote was mostly along party lines, with Republican Susan Collins voting against, and Democrats Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp voting in favor (Republican John McCain and Democrat Joe Donnelly did not vote).[98] Pruitt was sworn in the same day by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.[99] Days later, the emails were released, showing that while Pruitt served as Oklahoma attorney general he collaborated with major oil and gas producers, electric utilities, and conservative political advocacy groups to oppose environmental regulations.[36][7]

Tenure

Administrator Pruitt speaking in February 2017 at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Addressing EPA staff on February 21, 2017 Pruitt said that federal oversight and regulatory authority should be shifted to the states, saying "I believe that we as an agency, and we as a nation, can be both pro-energy and jobs and pro-environment. But we don’t have to choose between the two...Federalism matters.”[37][100][101]

Pruitt's chosen deputy, chief of staff, and deputy chief of staff are all former members of Senator Jim Inhofe's (R-OK) staff.[102] Pruitt picked Washington statehouse senators Don Benton and Doug Ericksen to be, respectively, a White House liaison and a regional administrator.[102] The President's first budget instructs Pruitt to cut the agency's budget by 24% and reduce its 15,000 employees by 20%.[102]

On March 28, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order directing Pruitt to rescind the Clean Power Plan.[103] Pruitt has refused to rescind EPA's endangerment finding which determined that carbon dioxide emissions threaten public health, prompting criticism from some conservatives.[25] In his January 2017 confirmation hearing Pruitt had said of the endangerment finding, "That is a law of the land."[104]

On April 28, 2017, Pruitt fired scientists from the agency's 18-member Board of Scientific Counselors, indicating he intends to replace them with industry representatives.[105] Ryan Jackson, Pruitt's chief of staff, then asked the Scientific Counselors Board's chair to change testimony she had submitted before a May 23 hearing of the House Science Committee, causing her to complain she felt "bullied."[106][107][108]

On May 1, 2017, Pruitt met with Tom Collier, CEO of Pebble Limited Partnership, and shortly after announced the EPA would withdraw plans to protect Alaska's Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine.[109]

On June 27, 2017, Pruitt released his proposal to rescind the Clean Water Rule.[110]

On June 29, 2017, Pruitt attended a board meeting of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, and told them that he will have researchers publicly debate the human role in climate change, adopting Steven E. Koonin's suggestion to hold a "red team blue team" exercise.[111]

Comments on carbon dioxide and global warming on CNBC

On March 9, 2017, in an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box, Pruitt said he "would not agree that" carbon dioxide is "a primary contributor to the global warming that we see" backing up his claim by stating that "measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact."[112][113] This was in direct contradiction with EPA's public stance that was published on their official website which stated: "Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas that is contributing to recent climate change".[114] A March 9 analysis by fact-checking website Snopes.com found that "Pruitt's statements to CNBC are misrepresentative of the scientific consensus on carbon dioxide's role as a greenhouse gas — a consensus that has essentially existed for more than a century."[115] The Atlantic published an article on the same day, pointing out that in 2007, the United States Supreme Court had acknowledged the link between carbon dioxide and global warming—in 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated the probability of carbon dioxide causing global warming was at least 95%.[116]

The Sierra Club filed a complaint with the EPA's inspector general requesting an investigation into whether Pruitt's March 2017 comments on CNBC violated the EPA's Scientific Integrity Policy. The EPA's Office of Science Adviser dismissed the complaint, ruling that "The freedom to express one's opinion about science is fundamental to EPA's Scientific Integrity Policy." The Sierra Club said the ruling "effectively lets Pruitt off the hook for deceiving the American public regularly in high profile contexts."[117][118]

By April 28—the day before the climate change mass protests—EPA announced that its website "would be 'undergoing changes' to better represent the new direction the agency is taking" which included "the removal of several agency websites containing detailed climate data and scientific information" including the site that "had been cited to challenge Pruitt's Squawk Box statements.[119]

Chlorpyrifos ban

On March 29, 2017 Pruitt denied an administrative petition by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Pesticide Action Network North America to ban chlorpyrifos, explaining "we are returning to using sound science in decision-making – rather than predetermined results".[120] On April 5, 2017, Earthjustice sued the EPA, again demanding that the pesticide be banned.[121]

The American Academy of Pediatrics responded to the administration's decision, saying they were "deeply alarmed" by Pruitt's decision to allow the pesticide's continued use.[122]

Asked in April whether he had met with Dow Chemical Company executives or lobbyists before his decision, an EPA spokesman replied: "We have had no meetings with Dow on this topic." In June, after several Freedom of Information Act requests, the EPA released a copy of Pruitt's March meeting schedule which showed that a meeting had been scheduled with Dow CEO Andrew Liveris at a hotel in Houston, Texas, on March 9.[122]

Methane rule

On March 22, 2017, Pruitt had dinner at the Washington Trump International Hotel with 45 board members of the American Petroleum Institute, where they asked for relief from a new regulation of methane leaks from their wells.[123] On June 13, Pruitt ordered the rule delayed for two years.[123] On July 3, Judges David S. Tatel and Robert L. Wilkins of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated that delay, finding Pruitt's order was "arbitrary" and "capricious" and in violation of the Clean Air Act, over the dissent of Judge Janice Rogers Brown.[124][125]

Expenditures

Pruitt drew controversy in the late summer and fall of 2017 over his use of taxpayer funds.[126] In August 2017, the inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency launched a probe into Pruitt's travel to and from Oklahoma at taxpayer expense.[126] Pruitt used at least $58,000 worth of noncommercial and military flights during his tenure, and when he and his staff used commercial flights, they opted for business or first class when those seats were available.[126][127] Pruitt's staff said that he was entitled to first class "due to security concerns".[126]

In September 2017, the EPA spent nearly $25,000 to build a soundproof booth for Pruitt to use in his office. The EPA's spokesperson said that this was to protect against hacking and eavesdropping.[128]

By September 2017, Pruitt's security detail had increased to 18 people who guarded him 24/7, which is an unprecedented large security detail for an EPA chief. Additional agents for Pruitt's security detail were pulled from the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, which more typically investigates environmental crimes.[129][130] The EPA justified the size of the detail, saying that it was because Pruitt faced greater security threats.[129]

Environmental views

Rejection of the scientific consensus on climate change

Pruitt rejects the scientific consensus on climate change.[131][132][133] Pruitt has also falsely asserted that there is no scientific consensus on climate change.[134][28][135][136]

In May 2016, Pruitt and Alabama state's attorney general Luther Strange co-authored an op-ed in the National Review criticizing some other state's attorneys general for investigating alleged securities fraud in the ExxonMobil climate change controversy, writing "...global warming has inspired one of the major policy debates of our time. That debate is far from settled. 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, public forums, and the halls of Congress. It should not be silenced with threats of prosecution. Dissent is not a crime."[7][113][137] Additionally, Pruitt joined 12 other Republican attorneys general in writing a letter that stated that "If it is possible to minimize the risks of climate change, then the same goes for exaggeration. If minimization is fraud, exaggeration is fraud."[138]

During his January 18, 2017, confirmation hearing to be EPA Administrator, Pruitt said that "the climate is changing, and human activity contributes to that in some manner".[139] Pruitt said he disagreed with Trump’s statement that climate change is a “hoax,” but hedged when asked to what extent climate change was caused by human activity.[104][56] Asked by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders "Why is the climate changing? I’m asking you a personal opinion,” Pruitt replied "My personal opinion is immaterial to the job."[139][56] Pruitt said the EPA has an "obligation" to regulate carbon dioxide in accordance with a 2007 Supreme Court case and 2009 EPA decision establishing carbon emissions as a threat to public health.[104][140]

In March 2017, Pruitt told CNBC that he does not believe that human activities, specifically carbon dioxide emissions, are a primary contributor to climate change, a view which is in contradiction with the scientific consensus.[112][141] A May 2017 study in Nature Scientific Reports examined Pruitt's claim that "over the past two decades satellite data indicates there has been a leveling off of warming."[142][143] The study found that the claim was false: "Satellite temperature measurements do not support the claim of a “leveling off of warming” over the past two decades".[142] On June 2, 2017, Pruitt acknowledged that global warming is occurring, and that "human activity contributes to it in some manner." However he added "Measuring with precision, from my perspective, the degree of human contribution is very challenging."[144]

Pruitt "has questioned the clear scientific evidence for climate change," according to the Union of Concerned Scientists in 2016.[67]

Paris Agreement

Pruitt opposes the Paris Agreement.[145] He has asserted that China and India have "no obligations" until 2030 under the Paris Agreement, an assertion deemed false by the Washington Post and FactCheck.org.[145][146]

Personal life

Pruitt married his wife, Marilyn, in 1992. They have two children: daughter McKenna and son Cade.[147]

Pruitt is Southern Baptist. According to the Oklahoma Office of Attorney General, the Pruitts are members of the First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, where Pruitt serves as deacon.[148] Pruitt was also a trustee at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.[149]

Electoral history

November 4, 2014, general election results for Attorney General

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party n/a 100.00%

November 2, 2010, general election results for Attorney General

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 666,407 65.11%
Jim Priest Democratic Party 357,162 34.89%

July 27, 2010, Republican primary election results for Attorney General

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 134,335 56.05%
Ryan Leonard Republican Party 105,343 43.95%
#E81B23 #E81B23
August 22, 2006 Republican primary election results for Lt. Governor
Candidates Party Votes %
Todd Hiett Republican Party 66,220 50.92%
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 63,817 49.08%
Source:[150]
#E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23
July 25, 2006 Republican primary election results for Lt. Governor
Candidates Party Votes %
Todd Hiett Republican Party 76,634 42.82%
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 60,367 33.73%
Nancy Riley Republican Party 41,984 23.46%
Source:[151]

November 5, 2002, general election results for Oklahoma Senate, District 54

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party n/a 100.00%
#E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23
December 11, 2001, special election results for United States House of Representatives, District 1
Candidates Party Votes %
John Sullivan Republican Party 19,018 45.53%
Cathy Keating Republican Party 12,736 30.49%
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 9,513 22.77%
George E. Banasky Republican Party 296 0.71%
Evelyn R. Rogers Republican Party 210 0.50%
Source:[152]

November 3, 1998, general election results for Oklahoma Senate, District 54

Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 9,971 63.51%
Shannon Clark Democratic Party 5,728 36.49%
Source:[153]
#E81B23 #E81B23
September 5, 1998, Republican runoff election results for Oklahoma Senate, District 54
Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 2,326 56.33%
Gerald Wright Republican Party 1,803 43.67%
Source:[10]
#E81B23 #E81B23 #E81B23
August 25, 1998, Republican primary election results for Oklahoma Senate, District 54
Candidates Party Votes %
Scott Pruitt Republican Party 1,959 48.94%
Gerald Wright Republican Party 1,820 45.47%
Douglas E. Meehan Republican Party 224 5.59%
Source:[154]

References

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Legal offices
Preceded by Attorney General of Oklahoma
2011–2017 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
2017–present 		Incumbent
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