Pruitt OK’d as EPA chief over environmentalists’ objections
WASHINGTON — Over the strong objections of environmental groups, the Senate confirmed Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday, giving President Donald Trump an eager partner to fulfill his campaign pledge to increase the use of planet-warming fossil fuels.
In six years as Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt filed 14 lawsuits challenging EPA regulations that included limits on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. He also sued over the EPA’s recent expansion of water bodies regulated under the Clean Water Act, a federal measure opposed by industries that would be forced to clean up polluted wastewater.
Pruitt’s supporters cheered his confirmation, hailing the 48-year-old Republican lawyer as the ideal pick to roll back environmental regulations they say are a drag on the nation’s economy.
“EPA has made life hard for families all across America,” said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “The agency has issued punishing regulations that caused many hardworking Americans to lose their jobs. Mr. Pruitt will bring muchneeded change.”
The vote was 52-46 as Republican leaders used their party’s narrow Senate majority to push Pruitt’s confirmation despite calls from top Democrats to delay the vote until requested emails are released next week.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the lone Republican to vote against Pruitt. Two Democrats from states with economies heavily dependent on fossil fuels crossed party lines to support Trump’s pick, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.
Pruitt has expressed doubt about scientific evidence showing that the planet is heating up and that humans are to blame. His nomination was vigorously opposed by environmental groups and hundreds of current and former EPA employees, who fear he will preside over massive budget and staff cuts.
“The biologists, scientists, lab technicians, engineers and other civil servants who work at the EPA must be able to do their jobs without political interference or fear of retribution,” said J. David Cox Sr., president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a labor union representing more than 9,000 EPA employees.
“Scott Pruitt is the worst pick ever confirmed to lead the EPA,” said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Democrats have cited Pruitt’s refusal to hand over thousands of emails that he exchanged with oil and gas executives, who have been major campaign contributors. A state judge in Oklahoma on Thursday concluded there was no legal justification for Pruitt withholding his correspondence for the past two years. She ordered him to release most of the emails by next week.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to delay Pruitt’s confirmation vote for 10 days. Schumer, of New York, tried to draw a direct line between Pruitt’s withheld emails and last year’s demands from Republicans during the presidential campaign.
“Emails! Remember emails?” Schumer asked on the Senate floor. “‘We should get them out!’ they said about Hillary Clinton. ... If they weren’t worried about them, then why rush?”
To dramatize their cause, Democrats kept the Senate in session Thursday night into Friday morning with speeches opposing Pruitt’s confirmation.
In his floor speech, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, said he doubted Pruitt would enforce efforts to curb pollution and algal blooms in Lake Erie, saying “we need an EPA administrator who understands how this contamination hurts” people in Ohio.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, voted for Pruitt, saying he is “committed to finding the appropriate balance to both protect the environment and protect Ohio jobs and our economy.”
Another nominee, billionaire businessman Wilbur Ross, cleared a Senate hurdle on Friday and is on track to win approval to serve as commerce secretary. A final vote is slated for Feb. 27.
Trump on Friday hired Mike Dubke, a veteran Republican media strategist, as the White House communications director, potentially providing some relief for embattled press secretary Sean Spicer, who’s been holding down both jobs.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia performed a second autopsy on the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jung Un because the first procedure was inconclusive, piling on the intrigue surrounding what appeared to be a well-executed assassination at an airport in Kuala Lumpur, an official said today. Police arrested a fourth suspect, identified as a North Korean man.
The second autopsy of Kim Jong Nam clearly enraged North Korea, which has vowed to reject the results of any post-mortem and demanded that Malaysia turn over the body immediately. Speaking to reporters outside the morgue late Friday, Pyongyang’s ambassador said Malaysian officials may be “trying to conceal something” and “colluding with hostile forces.”
A Malaysian official with knowledge of the investigation confirmed the second autopsy started Friday night and said the results of the first one were inconclusive.
The death of Kim Jong Nam, the exiled half brother of North Korea’s powerful and mercurial ruler, has unleashed a torrent of speculation and tales of intrigue.
Malaysia has arrested four people so far, the latest a man identified as 46-year-old Ri Jong Chol. He was picked up Friday night.
Kim Jong Nam, who was 45 or 46 and had lived in exile for years, fell ill at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday. He told medical workers he had been sprayed with a chemical. He died while being taken to a hospital.
South Korea has accused North Korea of dispatching a hit squad to kill Kim Jong Nam, saying two female assassins poisoned him.
On Friday, Indonesia’s police chief said an Indonesian woman arrested for suspected involvement was duped into thinking she was part of a comedy-show prank. Tito Karnavian, citing information from Malaysian authorities, told reporters that Siti Aisyah, 25, was paid to be involved in “Just For Laughs” style prank, a reference to a popular hidden-camera show.
“The agency has issued punishing regulations that caused many hardworking Americans to lose their jobs. Mr. Pruitt will bring much-needed change.”
— John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee