#ParisAgreement : Who is Scott Pruitt

In the first White House briefing following President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Sean Spicer deferred to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, but just who is he?

It was understandably an important press conference for the White House, so it made perfect sense for Sean Spicer to bring in the government’s expert on the subject, the Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Scott Pruitt fielded several questions, mirroring President Trump’s speech on Thursday when he announced American’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. The most challenging question that he faced was about President Trump’s belief in Climate Change. Historically Trump has been vocal in his belief that Climate Change is just a hoax, and with his withdrawal from the Paris Agreement it has led many environmental agencies to be understandably concerned. More concerning, however, was Mr. Pruitt’s answer. He explained that in all of his discussions they had never talked about Climate Change and only ever mentioned the Paris Agreement.

Let us put that in a different way. The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, who sits on President Trump’s cabinet and has had multiple meetings with the President, has NEVER discussed Climate Change with his Head of State.

This seems like a glaring omission for someone who is tasked with leading the government’s clean air and water acts, so just who is Scott Pruitt and how did he wind up in this position?

Mr. Pruitt was nominated to the position by Donald Trump in December 2016, claiming he wanted Pruitt for the job as he would reverse the EPA’s “anti-energy agenda” that he believed was costing jobs in the oil and gas sector. His nomination hearing was praised by Senator John Barrasso, who is an outspoken opponent of Climate Change and in 2011 introduced a bill to prevent the EPA from limiting Carbon emissions. At the time there were several vocal opponents to Mr. Pruitt’s posting, including Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. Why?

Well, looking further back at Mr. Pruitt’s history he was elected as the Attorney General of Oklahoma in 2010 and almost immediately dissolved the Environmental Protection Unit of the Attorney General’s Office. Furthermore, during his tenure as Attorney General, he was active in suing the Environmental Protection Agency 14 times to try and overturn several clean air and water bills created by the EPA, to appease sections of the oil and gas industry who have contributed over $300,000 to his campaigns. Of those 14 occasions only once was he successful.

Scott Pruitt has officially been Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency since February 2017, and has not yet discussed Climate Change with the President.