The United States Senate has narrowly confirmed Scott Pruitt for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency post after a heated debate.The Senate voted 52- 46 to appoint President Trump’s nominee as the 14th Administrator of the EPA.
As Administrator, Pruitt plans to lead the EPA in a way so that future generations inherit a better and healthier environment.
The American Farm Bureau Federation hails Pruitt’s confirmation.
“In his position as attorney general in Oklahoma, Pruitt stood up for common-sense, effective regulation that protects the environment and the rights of the regulated community. We’re optimistic that he will retain those same values as administrator and we look forward to working with him,” Zippy Duvall, president, American Farm Bureau Federation. “But what we truly look forward to is working with someone at EPA who understands how farmers and ranchers care for our nation’s natural resources each and every day.”
Almost immediately upon taking office as Attorney General for Oklahoma, Pruitt worked with his Democratic counterpart in Arkansas to reach agreement to study the water quality of the Illinois River, which crosses the border between the two states.
Also during his tenure as Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Pruitt led an historic water rights settlement between Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribal Nations that preserved the ecosystems of scenic lakes and rivers on native lands. The agreement, which required Congressional approval, was enacted into Section 3608 of Public Law 114-322 and signed in December 2016. It provides a framework that fosters intergovernmental collaboration on significant water resource concerns with the settlement area, while at the same time protecting existing water rights and affirming the state’s role in water rights permitting and administration.
Before being elected attorney general, Pruitt served eight years in the Oklahoma State Senate where he was a leading voice for fiscal responsibility.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association echoed the Farm Bureau’s statement.
“For far too long, the EPA has been a runaway bureaucracy largely out of touch with how its policies directly affect folks like cattle ranchers, who use – and responsibly care for – the environment while providing the safest and most abundant food supply in the world,” said Craig Uden, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “Scott Pruitt will restore some common sense to environmental policy and we look forward to working with him on restoring regulatory sanity to Washington, such as by killing the onerous ‘waters of the United States’ rule.”
