Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Trump’s pick for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will face a “rigorous line of questioning” during his expected confirmation hearing, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst promised reporters on Thursday.
No Senate Republicans have said they will oppose Pruitt’s nomination, but Ernst indicated that her support for Trump’s latest Cabinet-level appointee will hinge on whether he backs renewable energy and the federal ethanol mandate.
“What I will be asking is where does he stand on renewable fuels, where does he stand on renewable energy?” the freshman GOP senator said on a weekly conference call with Iowa reporters, according to the Quad City Times.
Ernst’s state relies heavily on renewable energy and has been the largest producer of ethanol and biodiesel in the United States. As an Iowan and chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, she applauded the EPA last month for boosting its renewable fuel requirements for 2017.
“Understand that I will be going through a rigorous line of questioning with Mr. Pruitt,” Ernst said Thursday, adding that “if he can say he is willing to support those efforts and keep our renewables at the forefront of his thought, you know, we’ll be going from there.”
Pruitt has been a stalwart critic of the EPA, despite now hoping to lead it. The Sooner State’s top legal officer has sued the agency on multiple occasions, including one in which he sought to dismantle the Obama administration’s broad regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump said Pruitt’s focus will be restoring the agency’s “essential mission of keeping our air and water clean and safe” without destroying jobs or “undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn.”
Democratic senators, under pressure from environmental groups, have hinted at a potential floor fight over Pruitt’s nomination.
“This is like filling up the swamp with one of the most determined and aggressive advocates for the fossil fuel industry, who has never thought for a moment about fighting for clean air or clean water, and has certainly never considered being a champion of our planet,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., told reporters.
