Sen. Ron Wyden Wednesday morning slammed President-elect Trump’s choice of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency.
In a Senate floor speech Wednesday, the Oregon Democrat said he had “no confidence” Pruitt would uphold the agency’s mission. Pruitt has his first confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Wyden attacked what he called Pruitt’s “repeated attempts to weaken or eliminate health-based standards [and] air quality standards for toxic pollutants.”
“If you roll back clean air and health standards, the people who are going to be hurt the most are those low-income minorities, the communities of color. I don’t see a big outcry in America for policies that would do that,” the senator said.
Pruitt has been staunchly opposed by environmentalist groups for his positions as attorney general. He has argued that the EPA has exceeded its mandate under the Obama administration and has sued the agency multiple times.
“If given the opportunity to serve as administrator, I will work to ensure that EPA has a cooperative and collaborative relationship with Congress in fulfilling its intent,” Pruitt said in prepared remarks for the committee. “As attorney general of Oklahoma, I saw examples where the agency became dissatisfied with the tools Congress has given it to address certain issues, and bootstrapped its own powers and tools through rulemaking.”
