Environmental Organizations Send Joint Letter to Senators in Opposition to Scott Pruitt

Dear Senator:

On behalf of our millions of members and activists, we urge you to stand up for clean air, clean water, healthy communities and a safe climate by insisting that the Environmental Protection Agency must be headed by an individual who is qualified for the office and dedicated to these values.

President-elect Trump’s nominee to head the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has actively worked against the mission of the agency he has been nominated to lead and he should be rejected by the Senate.

Mr. Pruitt has repeatedly sued the EPA to block clean air and clean water standards that will protect the health and well-being of millions of Americans.

For example, he has sued the EPA to overturn standards to curb mercury and other toxic air pollutants that will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths and 130,000 asthma attacks per year. He has sued to void standards to reduce soot and smog pollution projected to prevent up to 15,000 non-fatal heart attacks, 34,000 premature deaths, and 400,000 asthma attacks every year. These lawsuits are bad news for all Americans, but especially the more than 24 million Americans with asthma.

Mr. Pruitt denies the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real and is driven by human-made air pollution. He sued unsuccessfully to overturn the EPA’s scientific endangerment determination that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping air pollutants are harmful. And he has sued to block the EPA from setting any limits on carbon pollution from power plants, the nation’s largest polluter.

Mr. Pruitt has repeatedly argued that EPA should have little or no role in protecting Americans’ health and well-being from air and water pollution. Thus, he apparently rejects fundamental provisions of the Clean Air Act that require the EPA to set national public health standards–standards that guarantee protection to all Americans, regardless of where they live, and protect states from a “race to the bottom” in which they are pressured to compete for industry by offering lax health and environmental standards.

Mr. Pruitt has sued the EPA to overturn clean water safeguards for more than half the nation’s waterways, including streams that feed into the drinking water supplies of 117 million Americans. He even sued to block limits on water pollution into the Chesapeake Bay, which has no known connection to Oklahoma.

There is a long bipartisan history in this country of supporting clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. The American public did not vote for more air and water pollution, for more pesticides in our foods or for more toxic chemicals in toys. The American people did not vote to put the EPA in the hands of someone who has recklessly worked against its mission to protect Americans’ health and the natural environment.

Scott Pruitt’s views and actions run counter to the EPA’s critical mission to protect our health and the environment. This makes him unfit to administer the laws he would be entrusted to enforce. The Senate should reject his nomination.

Sincerely,

350.org

350PDX

Air Alliance Houston

Alaska Community Action on Toxics

Alaska Wilderness League

Alliance for Citizenship

Alliance for Democracy

Alliance for Energy Democracy

Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

American Rivers

Apostolic Faith Center

Appalachian Mountain Club

Appalachian Mountain Advocates

Battlement Concerned Citizens

BECAUSE

Bold Alliance

Breast Cancer Action

California Kids IAQ

Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund

Center for Biological Diversity

Center for Environmental Health

Center for Food Safety

Center for International Environmental Law

Central Valley Air Quality Coalition (CVAQ)

Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility

Citizens Action Coalition of IN

Clean and Healthy New York

Clean Water Action

Clean Wisconsin

Climate Action Alliance of the Valley

Climate Law & Policy Project

ClimateTruth.org Action

Coalition For A Safe Environment

Coalition for Clean Air

Community Dreams

Concerned Residents of Portland, NY + People Like Us (CropPlus)

Conservation Colorado

Conservation Voters New Mexico & CVNM Education Fund

Defenders of Wildlife

Downwinders at Risk

Earth Action, Inc.

Earthjustice

Earthworks

Eco-Justice Collaborative

Ecology Center

Ecology Center (Michigan)

Elders Climate Action

Emerald Cities Collaborative

EMERGE

eNRG - Energizing Renewable Growth in Holston Valley

Environment America

Environment Arizona

Environment California

Environment Colorado

Environment Connecticut

Environment Florida

Environment Georgia

Environment Illinois

Environment Iowa

Environment Maine

Environment Maryland

Environment Massachusetts

Environment Michigan

Environment Minnesota

Environment Missouri

Environment Montana

Environment Nevada

Environment New Hampshire

Environment New Jersey

Environment New Mexico

Environment New York

Environment North Carolina

Environment Ohio

Environment Oregon

Environment Rhode Island

Environment Texas

Environment Virginia

Environment Washington

Environmental Advocates of New York

Environmental Defense Fund

Environmental Health Strategy Center

Environmental Integrity Project

Environmental Law and Policy Center

Environmental Working Group

Farmworker Justice

French Broad Riverkeeper

Friends of the Earth

Gasp

Grand Canyon Trust

Green America

GreenLatinos

Heal the Bay

Hispanic federation

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Interfaith Power & Light

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement

Iowa Interfaith Power & Light

Labadie Environmental Organization (LEO)

Latino Decisions

League of Conservation Voters

Let's Talk Climate

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

Maine Audubon

Maine Wilderness Guides Organization

Mass Audubon

Missouri Coalition for the Environment

Moms Clean Air Force

Montana Conservation Voters

Montana Environmental Information Center

National Audubon Society

National Parks Conservation Association

Natural Resources Defense Council

Nevada Conservation League

New Virginia Majority

NextGen Climate

North Carolina League of Conservation Voters

Northern Plains Resource Council

Ocean Futures Society

Oceana

Ohio Environmental Council

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

Oil Change International

Oregon Aviation Watch

Oregon Environmental Council

Partnership for Policy Integrity

PennEnvironment

PennFuture

People's Action

Pesticide Action Network

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Potomac Riverkeeper Network

Prevent Harm

Public Citizen

Renew Missouri

RESTORE: The North Woods

Rootskeeper.org

Safe Climate Campaign

Safer Chemicals Healthy Families

San Pedro & Peninsula Homeowners Coalition

Save The Bay, Oakland, CA

Sierra Club

South Portland Air Quality

Southern Maine Conservation Collaborative

St. Philomena Social Justice Ministry

Students for a Just & Stable Future

Texas League of Conservation Voters

The Alaska Center

The Climate Reality Project

The Climate Trust

The Environmental Justice Center at Chestnut Hill United Church

The Greenlining Institute

The Trustees

Union of Concerned Scientists

Virginia Organizing

Voices for Progress

WaterWatch of Oregon

Western Colorado Congress

Wholly H2O

Wilmington Improvement Network

Wiscon League of Conservation Voters

Wisconsin Environment

Young Fresnans for the Environment