Scott Pruitt confirmation hearing (EPA chief) Wed. Jan. 18
Please, if you have not already contacted your representatives, urging them to vote against this climate skeptic who has shown repeatedly that he is hostile to the mission of the agency he would be heading, do so today!
https://newrepublic.com/article/139875/scott-pruitts-confirmation-hearing-science-will-trial
....."Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt may be a climate change denier, but that alone won’t derail his nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. So when confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick begin on January 18, you can expect to hear a lot about mercury. It’s part of a larger strategy by Senate Democrats to frame his nomination as the culmination of a cynical, years-long attack on science and reason whose purpose was to protect the interests of the fossil fuel industry—and his own.
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Opposing mercury pollution is a no-brainer. Its harms include serious damage to the nervous, pulmonary, digestive, and immune systems and developmental brain defects. In 2011, after years of study, the EPA limited how much mercury oil-fired and coal-fired power plants can emit. The agency’s Mercury and Toxic Air Standards (MATS) will save thousands of lives and prevent an estimated 11,000 premature births a year. Great, right? Not according to Pruitt, who joined more than 20 states in suing to block the rule—an appeal that was ultimately declined by the Supreme Court last summer, leaving the rule in place.
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In a letter sent in December, five committee Democrats and Senator Bernie Sanders grilled Pruitt on his connection to Oklahoma oil and gas giant Devon Energy, whose talking points Pruitt parroted in a letter to the EPA. This revelation was part of a 2014 New York Times investigation that found links between Republican attorneys general and energy companies, which gave $16 million to their campaigns. The senators also demanded that Pruitt reveal all the anonymous donors behind the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a 501(c)(4) group he helped create and is linked to the Republican Attorneys General Association. Supported by Freedom Partners, which funds causes championed by the Koch brothers, the Fund has worked to combat various Democratic initiatives, from instituting overtime laws to implementing the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
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“We should not have a fossil fuel puppet in the office directing the EPA,” said Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon.
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For Martin Hayden of the environmental law firm Earthjustice, the question of what Pruitt personally believes about climate change pales compared to his actions: “His actions have all been about stopping action on climate change. His actions will be about undoing action in climate change.”
...........(More at link)
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