US Senate confirms Scott Pruitt as EPA head

February 18, 2017 00:14

The Senate on Friday confirmed Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency, putting a seasoned legal opponent of the agency at the helm of US President Donald Trump's efforts to dismantle major regulations on climate change and clean water -- and to cut the size and authority of the government's environmental enforcer.

Senators voted 52-46 to confirm Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who has built a career out of suing to block the EPA's major environmental rules, and has called for the dissolution of much of the agency's authority. One Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, crossed party lines to vote against Pruitt, while two Democrats, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp, both from coal-rich states where voters generally oppose environmental rules, voted for him.

The vote came a day after a federal judge ruled the Oklahoma attorney general's office must turn over thousands of emails related to Pruitt's communications with fossil fuel companies, which have a large presence in his state.

Environmental activists and many Democrats pushed to delay the confirmation vote until those emails are released -- probably sometime next week -- but Republicans had no interest in a delay, especially after Democrats deliberately slow-walked the confirmation process for many of President Donald Trump's Cabinet.

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