Investigating Power
Senate Democrats on Thursday evening urged Republicans to delay the confirmation vote for Environmental Protection Agency nominee Scott Pruitt after a court ruled that emails between the Oklahoma attorney general and the fossil fuel industry must be released.
The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, giving Trump a lieutenant poised to make deep cuts to the EPA and transfer some if [sic] its enforcement responsibilities to states and localities.
The Center for Media and Democracy has been suing for the last few years to have access to EPA head Scott Pruitt’s emails from when he served as the Attorney General of Oklahoma–alleging deep ties between Pruitt and fossil fuel companies. A judge granted that request yesterday, a day ahead of Pruitt’s confirmation for the nation’s top environmental agency. We speak with Nick Surgey of the Center for Media and Democracy about the lawsuit and what’s next.
Democrats staged an all-night fight in the Senate in a final play to delay a vote on the nominee they say is unfit to lead U.S. EPA.
The Oklahoma attorney general’s office will have until Tuesday to turn over as many as 3,000 documents related to Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s communications with oil, gas and coal groups, a state district judge ruled yesterday.
The Senate narrowly confirmed Scott Pruitt as the new Environmental Protection Agency chief on Friday, despite Democrats’ calls to delay the vote until the release of a new trove of documents detailing the Oklahoma attorney general’s relationship with oil and gas companies.
Alexander Kaufman: “The Senate narrowly confirmed Scott Pruitt as the new Environmental Protection Agency chief on Friday, despite Democrats’ calls to delay the vote until the release of a new trove of documents detailing the Oklahoma attorney general’s relationship with oil and gas companies. The 52-46 vote divided the Senate along party lines, with just two Democrats ― Sens. Joe Manchin (W.V.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), who are up for re-election in states with big fossil fuel industries ― voting to confirm Pruitt. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) did not vote. Pruitt won the Senate’s approval the day after Judge Aletia Haynes Timmons of the District Court of Oklahoma County ordered his office to turn over more than 2,500 emails and other documents by Tuesday. The watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit against Pruitt earlier this month, alleging his office had violated Oklahoma’s open records law.”
In ramming through Trump’s EPA pick, the majority leader committed an egregious cover-up and a “total abdication of the Senate’s constitutional responsibility.”
An Oklahoma judge, responding to a suit by an advocacy group, has ordered Scott Pruitt to turn over records, although the deadline is after his likely confirmation.
The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, putting the former Oklahoma attorney general in a position to carry out President Trump’s promise to severely cut back an agency he says makes it “impossible for our country to compete.”