Investigating Power
As attacks on Scott Pruitt’s bid to lead U.S. EPA turn up new information tying him to energy companies suing the agency, Senate Republicans are under pressure to push his confirmation toward a final vote.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) released about 400 emails requested by activists and Senate Democrats, but that’s not nearly enough to halt a legal challenge scheduled for tomorrow, according to advocacy groups.
Democrats want to delay a vote on Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt, up for EPA administrator, until they receive and review e-mails between Pruitt and fossil fuel companies — companies he often helped as AG. Pruitt has released some e-mails, but there’s a court hearing Thursday on a lawsuit by the Center for Media and Democracy to pry more loose. The GOP might hold a vote anyway.
Scott Pruitt is an alarming choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, yet the Republican majority in the Senate is pushing to confirm him later this week.
Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said on Wednesday she would oppose Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, citing his numerous lawsuits against the agency.
Between January 2015 and last month, the Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal watchdog organization, submitted nine public record requests to the Oklahoma attorney general’s office. This week, it finally received a reply to its first request, filed more than two years ago: a set of 411 emails exchanged between Pruitt and local oil companies. That sounds like a lot—except that the attorney general’s office had initially said more than 3,000 emails were coming.
Today, a group of Senators weighed in with an Oklahoma court on a legal action seeking to require the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General to release documents relating to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator nominee Scott Pruitt’s connections to the fossil fuel industry. The Senators, all members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, had requested the information from Pruitt during his confirmation process. Rather than divulge it, Pruitt referred the Senators to his own office’s process for requesting documents under Oklahoma’s Open Records Act—a process that can take months, or even years, to complete.
Climate, Democracy, Environment, Trump
Senate Democrats want to delay a vote on Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt as Environmental Protection Agency nominee due to a pending court case regarding Pruitt’s email records.
At least 15 companies with financial ties to Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Environmental Protection Agency, have faced hundreds of EPA enforcement actions, which are the basic tool the agency uses to enforce environmental rules and laws.
Senate Democrats want to delay a vote on President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominee due to a pending court case regarding email records.