Investigating Power
Climate, Democracy, Environment, Trump
Democrats will hold the Senate floor through the night ahead of a confirmation vote on Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency after senators voted Thursday to move ahead with his nomination.
President Donald Trump’s pick to head the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, will be forced to hand over more than 3,000 emails to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a watchdog group, after a district judge ordered their release.
Climate, Environment, Koch, Trump
Oklahoma County Judge Aletia Timmons ruled Feb. 16 that Pruitt’s office has until Feb. 20 to release records requested by The Center for Media and Democracy in 2015 and 2016. The group requested communications Pruitt’s office had with Koch Industries and other coal, oil and gas corporations. The group states that Pruitt’s office acknowledged having over 3,000 documents related to the request. The group announced Feb. 7 that they had filed suit against Pruitt for allegedly violating the Oklahoma Open Records Act.
“Incomplete information” and “eroding trust” are perfect descriptors of another one of this president’s picks: the just-confirmed new head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt.
Throughout both his tenure as Oklahoma’s attorney general and his confirmation process for administrator of the Environmental Protection Administration, Scott Pruitt failed to answer questions and refused to disclose necessary information.
The Senate has scheduled a final vote on the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency…just as a two-year old open records request pertaining to his potential conflicts-of-interest goes to court. Democrats plan to hold an all-night debate session to hold the floor after Senate Republicans refused a request to delay the vote until after Thursday afternoon’s court ruling.
A judge has ruled that Americans have a right to know how much of a relationship Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has with oil and gas leaders before becoming the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Little more than a mile away, the U.S. Senate voted to move forward with the confirmation of Trump’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt. As attorney general for Oklahoma, Pruitt filed more than a dozen lawsuits fighting Obama’s environmental rules. Pruitt once called climate change a hoax but has moderated his views, saying he is not sure how much of it is caused by human activity.
As attacks on Scott Pruitt’s bid to lead U.S. EPA turn up new information tying him to energy companies suing the agency, Senate Republicans are under pressure to push his confirmation toward a final vote.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) released about 400 emails requested by activists and Senate Democrats, but that’s not nearly enough to halt a legal challenge scheduled for tomorrow, according to advocacy groups.
Democrats want to delay a vote on Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt, up for EPA administrator, until they receive and review e-mails between Pruitt and fossil fuel companies — companies he often helped as AG. Pruitt has released some e-mails, but there’s a court hearing Thursday on a lawsuit by the Center for Media and Democracy to pry more loose. The GOP might hold a vote anyway.