Pruitt Emails Demonstrate Cozy Ties to Polluters

WASHINGTON (Feb. 22, 2017) – The Oklahoma state attorney general’s office released emails this week, as required by a state court, shedding light on the relationship between industry and Scott Pruitt, the new administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, while he served as attorney general.

Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, made the following statement:

“This is Scott Pruitt’s mission statement: attack environmental safeguards, protect industrial polluters and let the public pay the price. These emails tell us that he’s in league with the very industries we’ve now entrusted him to police. He so deeply imbedded himself with energy companies that they described Pruitt and his allies as ‘fossil energy AGs,’ a badge of dishonor for a public guardian if ever there were one.

“The Senate failed the country by rushing to confirm Pruitt before these emails could raise the curtain on a career devoted to protecting special interests. Pruitt vowed Tuesday to listen to American voices. He’ll have to start listening to someone other than industrial polluters if he’s to serve as the nation’s top steward of our environment and health.”

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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 2 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; Bozeman, Montana; and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.