Pruitt’s dealings with energy industry continue to agitate
THE disdain that some in the media have for President Trump and members of his administration is evident regularly. Recent coverage related to EPA administrator Scott Pruitt provides an example of interest to locals because of Pruitt’s Oklahoma ties.
A former state senator, Pruitt won election as attorney general in 2010, and was easily re-elected in 2014. From the beginning he made it clear he would actively oppose Obama administration overreach, particularly regulations that had the potential to harm businesses and individuals.
The administration kept Pruitt’s “federalism” unit busy, as his office filed at least 14 lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency. The most highprofile of those were fights against the Clean Power Plan, which mandated cuts that all states had to make to greenhouse gas emissions, and the Waters of the United States rule, which greatly expanded the EPA’s control over bodies of water such as ponds and creeks. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually stayed the CPP and an appeals court put the water rule on hold.
Pruitt’s nomination as EPA administrator drew swift and strident opposition from environmentalists and some in the media who said Trump’s confirmation would essentially be placing the fox in charge of the henhouse. Both sectors remain upset.
An Associated Press story from Washington last week about emails Pruitt sent and received as attorney general did what it could to further establish Pruitt as a minion for the oil and gas industry — which environmentalists see as dead set on ruining the earth as we know it.
The AP, a wire service used by media outlets around the world including The Oklahoman, said the emails “underscore just how closely” Pruitt “coordinated with fossil fuel companies” as Oklahoma’s AG, “a position in which he frequently sued to block federal efforts to curb planet-warming carbon emissions.”
That’s quite an opening paragraph. Pruitt didn’t just work with energy companies while attorney general — he worked “closely” with “fossil fuel companies” (the ultimate bogey men) to essentially keep global warming from abating.
The AP report went on to note that some of Pruitt’s emails involved the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, a trade group that, as AP pointed out, includes “billionaire Harold Hamm, a political backer of Pruitt and a frequent adviser to President Donald Trump.”
We’ve always found it interesting how some in the media are quick to identify conservatives (such as Hamm) as “billionaires.” The Koch brothers, for example, aren’t just supporters of conservative (and other) causes. They’re “billionaire” supporters. The tag is intended to touch a nerve with those who have a problem with the "greedy" 1 percent — but only those 1 percent who don’t share their worldview.
Pruitt was rightfully criticized for not promptly turning over emails to Democratic senators prior to his confirmation vote earlier this year. And it’s possible this latest batch of emails could provide additional fodder for criticism. But the fact Pruitt regularly corresponded and dealt with energy industry officials as attorney general of a state where energy is the No. 1 industry should not be surprising nor should it, by itself, be considered nefarious.